


A Heavy Heart to Carry

by ParadiseAvenger



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-07
Updated: 2013-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 06:42:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 45
Words: 91,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/833894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadiseAvenger/pseuds/ParadiseAvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Whimsical Acumen. For a year, the worlds have been under attack. Hope lies in the damaged eaten heart of the Keybearer and the strange Princesses spoken of in the transmission from Kingdom Hearts before it was destroyed. Partial AU. Adult themes. SXK.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End

Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! **The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger.** (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)

For Whimsical Acumen.

The unofficial theme song for this entire story is Florence and the Machine’s “Heavy in Your Arms,” hence the title, just so you all know.

**X:X:X**

_“Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge had guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with my people’s smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. Darkness… Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness._

_“It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments: 1) extract the darkness from a person’s heart, 2) cultivate the darkness in a pure heart, and 3) both suppress and amplify the darkness within. The experiments caused the test subjects’ hearts to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatments produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight—creatures that seemed born of darkness… What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?_

_“The shadows that crawl beneath the castle… Are they people who lost their hearts or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond imagination? All my knowledge had provided no answer. One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts… I will call them Heartless._

_“The Heartless appear in groups and are multiplying rapidly. I’ve provided them both living and nonliving samples. They’ve responded only to the living. They seem to multiply after absorbing something from living creatures. Their prey vanished without a trace. I believe the Heartless are taking hearts. They are born from those who’ve lost their hearts and thrive on hearts seized from others. The hearts taken by the Heartless become Heartless themselves. Though I lack proof, I am confident in this hypothesis. I must also study their behavioral principles. Though they lack emotions, they do have some intelligence. How to communicate with them?_

_“It’s just occurred to me: Could they be the darkness in people’s hearts?_

_“To study Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation. It wiggled its antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, its antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something. Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I’d never known of its existence. It had a large keyhole, but didn’t seem to be locked. So I opened the door. What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy? That night, I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to that door I have opened?_

_“A massive core of energy lay beyond the door sought by the Heartless. It may well be the ultimate goal of all Heartless. But what is that energy? I have devised a hypothesis, based upon my observations of the Heartless. The Heartless feed on other’s hearts and they yearn for that energy core. That thing beyond the door must be a heart, too—the heart of this world. There is no proof, but, having felt that immense energy, I am certain. That was the heart of the world. The Heartless are trying to take hearts not only from all living creatures, but from the world itself. But what do they mean to do with the heart of the world?_

_“I am now studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records I’ve scoured even mention such a substance. Was it introduced to this world when I opened that door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world… I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be other uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow. But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place._

_“There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to people’s hearts. Further study may unravel bother their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart. As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn Heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This device is the culmination of all my research thus far. The machine’s test run successfully created a Heartless. This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing. The artificially- and naturally-created Heartless showed nearly identical traits. But the two types should remain distinct for the purposes of the experiment. So I will mark the ones that are created artificially._

_“Simply astonishing! Today I had a guest from another world. He is a king and his vessel is built of the material that composed the meteors. He called the pieces “gummi-blocks.” It seems that my opening that door has opened a path to interworld travel. We talked for hours, but one story in particular caught my interest: that of a key called the “Keyblade.” The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is. A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door that I have opened._

_“Just as people have hearts, so do worlds. The same can be said of the stars in the night sky. And deep within each world lies a door to its heart. The Heartless desire those hearts. Born out of the darkness in people’s hearts, they seek to return to a greater heart. Yes, that’s it. The Heartless come from people’s hearts, as does the darkness. Is the core of the world’s heart the world of the Heartless? I will pursue the answer there and become all-knowing. My path is set. I shall seek out the wielder of the Keyblade and the Princesses. My body is too frail for such a journey, but I must do this. I will cast it off and plunge into the depths of darkness… (1)”_

That’s what was transmitted via satellite, gummi-ship, radio, television, and word of mouth the day everything happened. 

It was recorded on a tape that was found in an underground lab beneath the floors of the mysterious stronghold known as Kingdom Hearts. But no one got the chance to find out any more than that because a few minutes after landing on Kingdom Hearts, that world closed up and ceased to be and all those dark creatures escaped to devour all the other worlds in the universe. 

The people that had been on Kingdom Hearts at the time—sent to find out why all communications with that world had ceased with one final scream and then nothing but silence and static crackle—had never been heard from again save that desperate recorded transmission that they sent out as if it held the secrets to everything that had happened there. Sadly, no one understood what the recorded entries meant and they didn’t have much spare time to think about it either. 

After that, the army of darkness attacked and destroyed everything in its path. 

Since the last transmission from Kingdom Hearts, the scientist’s recorded entries, a full year of war has passed… Some people have survived, most have not. Some worlds have survived, most have not. Some things were the same, but most things were not. A year… a year of fighting back the darkness—inside and outside.

**X:Hollow:X:Bastion:X**

“Princess! We’re under siege! They’re at the gates!” 

Princess Kairi Sinclair was woken by the doors to the throne room being hurled open and one of her guards rushed in with his eyes wild, shouting hysterically. Immediately, she was up and out of her father’s heavy chair and dashing down the hall after her guard. Her skirts snagged on a table, but she yanked free to hustle after the guard. The table rattled behind her, but didn’t crash over as she had half-expected. The guard brought her to the battlements and she looked down at the monsters attacking the drawbridge.

“Princess! What should we do?!” one of the soldiers asked. He was a slender, fine-faced fellow and Kairi knew he used to be a postman, forced to be a soldier by the mass of darkness beating into everyone’s lives. She knew he wouldn’t survive a full-fledged battle—he was no soldier. 

Kairi hated this. She hated being in charge of all these lives and taking responsibility for sending people to their deaths to no avail. 

The shadow monsters—the Heartless, if the transmission of the scientist was to be believed—attacked the castle day in and day out, calmed and attacked in different ways by possessing people inside the fortress, were beaten back, and attacked at the heavy gates again. During the day, they were more easily beaten, but at night… it almost wasn’t worth the fight. Hollow Bastion was beginning to break apart at the seams and there seemed to be nothing Kairi could do to stop it.

“How long will the gates hold?” she asked quickly. 

“A few more minutes! Tops!” the postman-turned-soldier told her.

She bit her lower lip and looked down at the black army laying siege to her kingdom’s gates. “We don’t have any choice but to fight,” she said almost to herself and then more loudly to the others, “If they get in, it’s all over!”

“We know, Princess,” several of her men whispered.

She whirled back to face these countless honest faces, pale in the moonlight with panic. It was time to do what she hated—give the orders for battle. “Get the archers on it first and continue until it looks like we’ll be overrun.” 

Unspoken: _I don’t want to lose more lives than we have to. Our numbers are already so few._

Several people nodded, happy that she wasn’t hungry for a battle that would cost many of them their lives. The archers lifted their bows, shouldered their quivers, and sucked in strong breaths to steady themselves. 

“Send some, our youngest soldiers, down to attempt to barricade the gate and get our people back behind the second wall, just in case.” The princess paused, looking down again. “Some of you are to stay here and watch and be aware in case they try to scale the walls. Defend our archers if they do.” She took a deep breath. “The rest of you—prepare yourselves for battle!”

The great answering roar came up abruptly. “Yes Princess!” And then everyone rushed off to do as she said.

Kairi lingered at the top of the great wall longer, looking out over the army of darkness. The cold wind kissed her cheeks and bared throat, tossed her blood-red hair across her shoulders, and prickled her flesh with goose bumps. The zing of the archers’ bows and flying arrows and the cries of slaughtered dark creatures filled the night, coupled with the distant shouting of people and soldiers as they barricaded the gates and rushed for the safety of the inner walls.

These monsters had been coming for little more than a year now and they had sprung up like toadstools throughout the entire universe as if needing only shadows to appear. They were ugly, twisted creatures that had been eaten apart by something from the inside out. Some of them used to be human, she supposed, but others were simply monsters that had never been human. They had black skin and big glowing yellow eyes. Some wore twisted charred armor, some carried mangled weapons, and a few even rode giant monsters reminiscent of horses, but most of them fought with their tearing claws and sharp teeth and other animalistic weaponry. 

Then, it got worse. 

The creatures started taking people over from the inside out, devouring something inside them—their hearts—and breaking them apart. People that Kairi had been friends with and known all her life changed violently. They started killing and hurting at random and a few even slaughtered their own families. There was no deciding how these creatures chose their victims, chose which humans to devour from the inside, because Kairi’s strong good father, King Jason Sinclair, was even swallowed up. Kairi’s mother, Queen Ramona Sinclair, had been forced to kill her own husband before he murdered everyone in the palace, including his daughter. And then the creatures devoured her mother’s heart.

Heartless…

The entire universe just fell apart when the monsters came. So of course, everything had to change after that.

Worlds were devoured by this darkness and its creatures. Some worlds and all its people were completely destroyed by the shadow monsters, turned into ugly possessed humans, slaughtered in cold blood, slaughtered by the possessed. In order to survive, other worlds—Traverse Town, Disney Castle, Hollow Bastion, Kingdom Hearts before it was destroyed—became strongholds and sheltered the refugees from the demolished worlds. But a lot of people had been killed, devoured, destroyed just like the countless worlds that were now lost. It seemed like a lot of things were lost now including things like happiness and hope that she thought could never really be taken away.

Kairi took a deep breath of cold night air and watched the sleek movement of her archers lined up on the battlement shooting at the dark army below. The unfortunately-natural stone overpass that led to the gates of Hollow Bastion bridged a deep chasm of deep space, into the void between worlds. A few ugly creatures fell over the bridge and dissolved into the darkness from whence they came. 

As Kairi was not a warrior princess, she hurried back into Hollow Bastion’s stronghold castle and lingered in the throne room where she had been sleeping earlier that night. So much time seemed to have passed since the guard had awoken her, it was almost unreal—hours! She went to her father’s great chair and ran her cold hands over the thick red velvet. She wished her father’s warm body was still there in his chair. She wished he was still here to help her and she missed her mother’s guidance… She missed them so much.

“Princess Kairi,” her most trusted guard’s voice rang through the silence of the throne room. “You’ve got that look on your face. Are you missing them?”

The princess turned to face Riku Crossman, her most precious guard. He used to live in another world, but when it was destroyed and his family with it, he came to Hollow Bastion as a refugee. He had glimpsed Kairi on the battlements back when her parents were still alive and did everything he could to become one of her guards. He just had to know her! After intense training, he had become the most important part of the castle’s defenses, strategy, and battle. 

“Riku,” she murmured. “I was just thinking about how everything used to be.”

He shook his shaggy silver head and put his hands on her narrow shoulders. “You can’t think that way and you know it.”

Kairi sighed heavily and tucked her small fingers into his leather knife-belt. “I know, Riku, I know.”

Hollow Bastion had always been a great thriving world, but it was much stronger and safer when Princess Kairi Sinclair was still a child. (In her teenage years—now!—it had become a battleground like every other world, but was one of the last great strongholds of the old universe.) The streets had once been alive with people, the market was bountiful, the hospitals used to be half-empty, the palace was aglow with amber light, and everything was perfect. Now, the people hid in their houses and in the castle behind locked barred doors, supplies were always low, hospitals were packed with injured and the morgue was full of dead, but the palace was still a beacon of light on the crest of the city.

“Riku…”

“Hmm?”

“Are the gummi-ships ready?”

He was quiet for a moment, staring somewhere over her head. “Has it come to that already?” he asked finally.

Kairi made a sound low in her throat. “I hope not, but if they get through the walls I want to be certain we can get everyone out in time. I don’t want to lose anyone else,” she said softly and stepped back to look up into Riku’s honest green eyes. “Would you run to the hangar and check on everything for me?”

Riku nodded, put his hands on her bare shoulders, and tucked a strand of Kairi’s red hair behind her ear. It caught on her small sapphire earrings, the ones that had once been her mother’s. Some coppery blood was caught in the delicate gold-leaf, but Kairi wore them anyway. They were all she had left of her mother and all she had left of her father was his heavy cold throne. Even being a princess, she had lost everything she had loved in her life. Riku ran his hands down over her shoulders and spied the carved silver hilt of the small knife he had given her peeking out over the top of her bodice. 

“Kairi?” he murmured quietly into her blood-colored hair.

“Hmm?” Her gaze was far-seeing, still thinking about things she shouldn’t be thinking about.

“I’m going to check the ships in the hangar, go through the city, and then help out with the battle.”

Her small fingers tightened on his knife belt and he felt it in her chest—the words to beg him, to order him, not to go and put himself in danger. He was her last living friend and she didn’t want to lose him like she had everything else precious in her life, but Kairi sucked in a deep breath and nodded slowly. Her breath rattled in her chest like she was sick and he was sure she was. Sick at heart, that is…

“Be careful,” was all she said after she stopped breathing like that.

Riku nodded and tried to pull away from her, but her fingers dug in, clutching him desperately though her expression remained blank. “Kairi, let go. I’ll be okay,” he said to her and tried to peel her fingers out of his leather vest. “Kairi, let me go,” he insisted. He hated to hurt her like this and his alliance was to her first, yet it was his responsibility to defend Hollow Bastion to the death. That was an oath he had taken and couldn’t break. “Princess, please…”

Finally, Kairi uncurled her white-knuckled fingers and allowed him to get away. 

Riku cast one final glance at his best friend and princess and then left the cold haunted throne room. His footsteps echoed on the granite floor, heavy boots clattering, and he checked in on the gummi-ships in the hangar. All were ready to fly on a moment’s notice, the mechanists assured him and continued tinkering away to be certain of that. Then, he returned to his proper place on the battlements and was relieved to see that the archers had been able to beat back the dark creatures. For now, everything was going to be alright—they would survive! Hollow Bastion would make it through the night.

…

_Dear Diary,_

_One of the things I miss the most about the worlds as they were were the rules (and the life, I suppose, but that comes later). Not that I ever thought that all rules were absolute because I know they aren’t. (I’m not a child anymore and haven’t been for almost a year, since the creatures started coming.) But it was comforting to think that some things just couldn’t happen, just weren’t allowed, but there were still times when rules still didn’t apply._

_There was always at least one exception. (Like when my friend Wakka got a really, really, really bad haircut and got to wear a hat in school even though they were prohibited.) The exception to the rules, but in the old world—the worlds as they were—there were at least rules that were followed by most. Those who didn’t were criminals, troublemakers, delinquents, rebels, felons, revolutionaries, creatures, monsters, and crooks—call them what you will._

_Now, since the war started, the rules of the world were dust or had changed so drastically that I wasn’t sure what they even were anymore. Sometimes, late at night, I missed the old world—my old world—but most of the time I didn’t have the energy to miss anything—not my poor dead parents, not my precious dead friends, not even my wonderful dead dog._

_The war takes up all my time._

**X:X:X**

(1) This is Ansem’s report, entries one through ten, straight from the first game. You have no idea how long it took me to copy it down, but I did add some creative punctuation because it was a little weird the way it was formatted on the game.

Did anyone else know that King Mickey’s Castle is actually called Disney Castle? I didn’t know that and had to go back and change things!

Really, really long first chapter!

SLOW UPDATES until I finish Soul Eater’s Where Do We Go When We Die? You’ll all be fine. Take a breath…

Questions, comments, concerns? Well, Whimsical Acumen, what do you think?


	2. The Descent of Hollow Bastion

I don’t really have anything to report. Stupid Where Do We Go When We Die is NEVER GOING TO END!

**X:X:X**

The universe’s last great strongholds—Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town, and Disney Castle—were all laid out the same way. Maybe it had something to do with the layout that helped them survive so long or maybe it had more to do with the people inside these worlds.

Either way, they were laid out the same way. 

First, there was a sort of natural barricade—jagged cliffs that required a bridge, a raging river, or even a yawning ravine that dropped off into the void between worlds—that had to be crossed to get to the outer walls of the fortress. To even contemplate attacking the cities, an army would have to get across those barriers and that was nearly impossible to begin with. It was an awesome defense! Especially with archers on the outer walls to shoot down the invading army on the other side.

Second, the fortress itself had three great thick walls—each with turrets, battlements, towers, and fully equipped for battle with heavy gates that took at least ten men to open. Behind the outermost wall was the town, with all its houses and shops and even its farms, self-contained inside. Behind the middle wall was all towering buildings for holding the people of the town should the outer defenses be breached. The innermost was the last barricade to a great empty courtyard that spanned between the thickest wall and the castle keep. Here, they could organize for a final stand or fall back into the keep.

Third, at the center, as a last and final defense, was the castle keep. It was the center of all the levels and layers of the powerful cities. The castle was big enough to hold everyone from the city, to protect and defend them, and the underground was set to support the castle with forges, storehouses, and bunkers in case enemies ever got through the three outer walls. The castles were all different between the three strongest worlds, but they were all immaculately strong.

And so, the three greatest strongholds—Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town, and Disney Castle—were laid out in this fashion.

(No one was really certain how Kingdom Hearts had been laid out before it was destroyed by the Heartless or something else, but as a great stronghold, it must have been similar if the pattern was to be believed.)

Disney Castle, led by King Mickey, was considered the strongest out of the three with Traverse Town coming in second and Hollow Bastion as a distant third. 

They were the dying world’s last great strongholds, the last defense against the darkness, and the last real hope for survival. Once they were gone… there would be no hope for survival. The Heartless would devour everything because nothing would lie in their path to prevent them. If Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town, and Disney Castle were destroyed…!

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

“Gawrsh, look at them all,” King Mickey’s head guard said as he stared down over the great outermost wall. 

The Heartless had gathered on the other side of the raging river. They looked like a horde of black rats. A few dared forge it even as he watched, swimming far worse than rats in a sewer, and none made it across. They were swept quickly away by the current and dashed to pieces on the rocks in the rapids. Yes, the river was strong and a fantastic defense against Heartless, but it had also claimed many human lives as well. Mother Nature was a powerful and heartless force.

“There’s a lot of them, alright,” the king’s mage said coolly and peered down at the army of darkness.

“Do you think they’ll ever make it across?” the guard asked and turned to face his close friend and ally, Donald Duck.

For a long moment, Donald didn’t answer Goofy. Then, he let out a breath and said, “They damn-well keep trying! But I don’t think so, but even if they do, we can beat them back.”

“That’s right,” Goofy said and smiled. He adjusted his heavy shield over his narrow knobby shoulders, toying with the strap and buffing at a few scratches with his gloves fingers.

Together, they turned on the battlement and looked down over the bustling town below. Everyone was going about their daily routine—buying bread, forging weapons, farming, weaving, tending children, shouting, laughing, talking. 

The darkness hadn’t quite touched the King’s people just yet. They were protected by the river outside and by their prince.

Only once in the history of the war against darkness, in the past year, had King Mickey ever had to order his people out of their homes and behind the safety of the second wall. Even then, the Heartless army had barely managed to cross the river on their giant monsters. They had been beaten back easily.

That was all because of the prince.

Donald didn’t have to point out the prince to Goofy even on the crowded city streets because the young man stuck out like a sore thumb. He was so obvious, so different, so beautiful and so damaged, and he was the reason the Heartless never touched Disney Castle, never even got through the outermost wall and barely touched it. In the city streets below, the people streamed around him like water in a river and he was the sturdy black rock in the center of the current. He was the rock of Gibraltar, but everyone else was chipping away at him like sand.

**X:Hollow:X:Bastion:X**

Princess Kairi Sinclair woke up stiff and sore in her father’s throne. She felt as if she never slept in her own bed anymore and actually spent several minutes wondering when the last time she had slept in her bedroom had been. At least three days, she concluded finally and felt a little foolish. She sat up and her spine cracked unpleasantly. Groaning, she ran her fingers through her mussed blood-colored hair. Then, she shuffled her skirts, dragged herself out of her father’s chair, and hauled herself out to the battlements. 

Riku was standing in the early morning sunlight, looking like the god of war. His silver hair was windblown, glinting in the sunlight, and his grass-green eyes were full of excitement. His many weapons hung off his leather-clad body. The archers were all leaning on the wall, breathing deeply and smiling.

Kairi touched Riku’s shoulder and he turned to face her, still smiling. “What’s happened?” she asked and peered down. 

The Heartless were still there.

“We made it through the night. The sun is up!” Riku said cheerfully. “We made it through the night.”

Kairi wished that wasn’t such an accomplishment, but she felt her own lips curve into a smile. “We made it,” she said in cheerful agreement and hugged Riku tightly. His strong arms went around her fragile body and hugged her close, nearly crushing her. Sometimes, he was too strong for his own good and now was one of those times. “R-Riku, seeing stars… seeing stars!”

“Ah, sorry,” he murmured and loosened his grasp around her. He led her to the edge of the great stone and metal wall and held her hand while she looked down at the army below. “We didn’t lose anyone, either,” he whispered into her ear.

Kairi shivered. Images of the dead—of the countless funeral pyres and the plumes of thick black smoke spiraling up into the clear blue sky, of her mother stabbing her father through the heart, of her mother’s slit throat, of all the Heartless monsters with their glowing yellow eyes, of all the dead friends she had buried—flooded her mind. She squeezed Riku’s fingers and her hands suddenly felt very cold. 

“How did the gates manage?” she asked Riku.

“I pulled everyone back behind the second wall because it looked like they were going to break through at one point, but they didn’t get in. We’re going to have to do some major repairs on the gates,” Riku said and plucked an arrow from a nearby quiver. He borrowed a bow from an exhausted archer, lined up the shot, and let his arrow fly. Kairi shivered at the hauntingly close cry of something dying and saw the body crash over into the darkness of the yawning void below the bridge. “Sorry,” he said to Kairi. “We need more people. Everyone needs rest and food.”

Kairi sighed. “I know, but we just don’t have any soldiers.” She thought of the postman forced to turn soldier by the shortages. 

“Maybe we can send out a call for help,” Riku offered.

Kairi shook her head, red hair sticking to the sweat on her throat. “No. Hollow Bastion is one of the late strongholds. If people catch wind that we’re breaking apart…” she didn’t finished that sentence but Riku knew what she had been going to say.

“Then what do we do?” he asked.

She leaned on the wall, both hands braced on the cold stone. “We hold on, Riku,” she said. “That’s all we can do.”

He strung the bow again and let it fly.

Zing. Zing, zing, zing, zing. Zing! ZING!

It was never-ending.

…

After a quick bath and some food in her empty stomach, Kairi felt much better. Because everyone was at the end of their ropes, she donned a short skirt of sturdy cotton and a leather jerkin over a soft white linen blouse. She scraped her blood-red hair back with a ribbon, removed it, and used a strip of thin leather instead. Then, she joined Riku and the archers on the battlements. 

“Teach me to shoot,” she said to him.

Riku didn’t seem surprised by this request and lowered his bow. By now, he had his own quiver of arrows and had organized the archers so they were working in shifts to give each other breaks for about ten minutes. They couldn’t afford to move into shifts yet. “You’re sure?” was all he asked her because she could easily hurt herself.

Kairi nodded and stretched out her hands. Riku’s grip of sweat-slick and hot, but he showed her how to hold the bow, how to notch in an arrow, and finally how to aim. Kairi let her first shot go and it went wide without taking out anything. 

“Be careful,” Riku said. “We don’t have too many arrows.”

“Are more being made?”

He nodded.

Kairi lifted her arms, quivering at how difficult it was to draw back the string, and anchored her arrow. Then, she let it fly. The arrow sank deep into one Heartless’s glowing yellow eye and it died with an inhuman shriek. 

Riku slid her a sly smile. “Lucky shot.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, drew back again, and let her third arrow fly. She killed another Heartless.

“Beginner’s luck,” Riku said again.

Kairi remained with him on the battlements until lunch time. By then, the Heartless numbers had dropped and they began to retreat. A few women and children came to watch the wall while the soldiers took some well-deserved rest. It was wonderful to see that despite the struggle and threat of Heartless in Hollow Bastion, everyone was willing to pull together and support each other. There might be hope for the worlds yet. 

There were still good strong hearts that wouldn’t be devoured by the Heartless in Hollow Bastion… hopefully, Kairi relented because she was reminded of her mother and father.  
Kairi walked slowly beside Riku, who was trying very hard to prove that he wasn’t tired, but she wasn’t fooled. She eyed him as he climbed the castle steps, dragging ass and looking like his many weapons were going to pound him through the granite and metal.

“Riku, you need to sleep,” Kairi said flatly.

“I’m fine. What I need is to go to the forge and help make more arrowheads,” he protested.

She took his bow from him and then the quiver. “No, what you need is to rest. It’ll be dark soon,” she said softly and looked up at the bright noon sky.

“It’s noon, Kairi,” Riku said.

“And you’re tired now. What state will you be in by the time night falls again?”

He didn’t have anything to say to that and she had a good point so he relented. “Alright, Princess, I’ll go get some rest, but you have to promise me you’ll sleep in your own bed tonight instead of your father’s throne.”

“I’ve slept in my bed!” Kairi protested.

“When?” Riku asked, not fooled in the least.

Kairi slid her eyes away.

“Thought so. You sleep in your bed tonight and I’ll go rest now. Deal?”

“Deal…” Then, she walked him to his bedroom next door to her own, passed him his weaponry, and smiled faintly. “What would I do without you Riku?”

He grinned, but didn’t say anything. He closed the door softly and Kairi heard him set down his weapons with a clatter and start snoring only a few seconds later. She chuckled softly to herself—he was more tired than she had even thought! Then, she walked through the kingdom, checking in on everyone in the hospital and seeing how arrow production was going and visiting the mechanists in the gummi-ship hangar. In case anything happened, everything was ready.

…

Night fell again and the Heartless surged against the gates like a black tide. 

Riku was well-rested and ready to take them on, but even he hadn’t been expecting the complete battering of monsters at their doorstep. Kairi was standing beside him, shooting down a rain of arrows on the field of yellow eyes. Even so, within the course of two hours, the Heartless had broken through the gates and poured into the city like a flood of darkness. A scream got caught in Kairi’s chest, choking her, but she swallowed it. 

“Fall back!” Riku shouted, still shooting.

He shoved Kairi in front of him as he raced the archers and soldiers back across the wall, through the passage, and safely behind the second wall. Everyone scrambled before him like insects caught under a light and the air was thick with panic as the Heartless poured in at their back. 

“Close the gates!” Kairi shouted once everyone was through the heavy secondary gates.

Riku cried out suddenly and crashed down against her back.

“Close the gates!” she shouted and gathered both arms around Riku’s broad torso. The weight of him and his weapons nearly drilled her into the dirt but two other women were quickly on either side of her and helped drag him to his feet. “Close them!”

The gates slammed down with a bang!

Riku made a small sound of pain and Kairi felt something wet and warm seep over her hands. Oh god, had he been hurt?! “Please, not Riku,” she heard herself say. “Please, no more…”

“It’s going to be okay, Princess,” someone whispered. Then, Riku was spirited from her arms and into the hospital. 

Kairi had to turn away from her best friend, shouting orders up at the soldiers on the wall above her head. Everyone’s faces were white and nervous and the shrieks of the Heartless just on the other side of the wall—so close—was even more frightening. Her heart throbbed in her chest, racing so fast that she thought it would burst out of the cage of her ribs. She hitched up her skirt and dashed up the battlement, took a bow from someone’s hands, and started raining down arrows on the army below.

But it was no use.

By the time dawn broke, the Heartless had beaten their way through the second wall.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	3. The Arrival in Traverse Town

It’s taking a while for this story to zoop back up to the former Kingdom Hearts popularity of my former stories. I guess that’s what I get for switching around fandoms at random increments and falling off the face of the planet for a period of time. Oh well! I have a feeling it’ll come back up again. 

_“What goes down must come up eventually!”_ Or is that supposed to be the other way around…? 

I’m momentarily confused today. Maybe my brain went on vacation, but I think it’s all the dust in my Dad’s house and I’ve been dusting all day. My once-white rag is now very very brown. *achoo* And I’m nowhere near finished with anything!

**X:Hollow:X:Bastion:X**

Exhausted, Kairi dropped to her knees and hung her head. Her face was curtained by her thick red hair, sweat-streaked and blood-streaked though that was harder to see. Her arm ached from drawing back the bow Riku had given her and her muscles were swollen and bruised. Everyone had been pushed back behind the innermost wall, into the open courtyard. There was only the castle left to fall back on now. Then, there was only the gummi-ships in the hangar and another world to flee to as refugees like Riku had been forced to do when his home world had been destroyed. 

Hollow Bastion could very easily fall today or tomorrow.

“How’s Riku?” Kairi asked between deep gasping breaths. She stared at the bow on the ground beside her and her empty quiver of arrows.

“I’m fine.” Riku’s voice rang through the silence of the people. (The screaming Heartless was the only sound in the thick silence.)

Kairi’s head snapped up and she stared into Riku’s grass-green eyes. His face was pale and his eyes had dark circles under them, but he was alive and that was more than Kairi had hoped for. She had been fearing the worst—his death! A smile broke out on her tired face. “Riku!” she shouted and leaped to her feet. She threw her arms around him and he hissed in pain. Quickly, she tried to draw back, but Riku caught her in his arms, hugging his princess tightly.

“No, no,” he said. “I’m okay!”

“What happened?” Kairi asked him, digging her fingers into his shirt. She felt bandages beneath the thin cotton. “How bad is it?”

“Not bad at all,” he said. “I got a claw in the back.”

“A claw?”

“Yeah, something dug into me and ripped my back up. I’m okay,” he said again.

Kairi stretched up her hands and touched his cool face. The moon played on his eyes and pale flesh, making him look like a corpse, and Kairi’s heart plunged into her stomach. What if this was only Riku’s ghost come to say his last goodbyes to her. She felt the thick bandages beneath his shirt and dug her fingers in.

“Oww! Kairi, weren’t you listening to me? That hurts!” Riku howled and pushed her sharply back. His back must have been torn up far worse than he had let on. Then again, he had passed out from the wound and Riku was a tough guy. “So, I see they pushed up back two full walls. There’s not much left, huh?”

Kairi nodded slowly and reached out for Riku again. He accepted her back into his arms, hugging her tightly, and she relished the heat of his body.

“What’s it like up there?” he asked.

She swallowed thickly and knew there was no way to explain it to him and that he had better have a look for himself. So, she wrapped her exhausted arm around his waist and helped him up onto the battlement to look down over the two sections the Heartless had overtaken. In the darkness, broken only by the faint silver light from a crescent moon, it looked like a sea of burning yellow orbs—all those horrible Heartless eyes—and it just went on forever. There were more eyes out there than there were stars in the sky.

Riku let his breath out and whispered, “What do you think?”

The princess shook her head.

Riku squeezed her shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“We lost two walls, Riku,” she whispered. “Look at them! Do you think there’s any hope? At all?”

Riku looked out over the sea of darkness and sighed heavily. “I don’t want to give up, but you are my princess. I’ll do what you think is best. I followed you in and I’ll follow you out.”

“Riku—”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said. “Just tell me what you want to do.”

Kairi didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to abandon Hollow Bastion. It was her home—it was the place she had grown up, the place she loved, the last place she had seen her parents, the place where she had buried them, the place where she had buried everyone she had ever loved—and she had hoped to keep it a major stronghold forever, but… the Heartless had changed a lot in her life. They had destroyed a lot of her life and now they were destroying her world.

“Kairi?” Riku murmured and squeezed her shoulder.

“We can’t do it, Riku…” she whispered, choked out brokenly.

He hugged her against his side. “We could try, if that’s what you wanted.”

She shook her head sadly. “We lost a lot of people tonight. I lost a lot of my people…”

“Kairi—”

“No, Riku!” she said sharply and clutched at him. “It’s not right for me to sacrifice more lives because I want to keep my home! It’s not worth it!” For a moment, she stood there and composed herself, breathing deeply to steady her racing heartbeat. Then, she turned away from Riku’s hold and shouted down over her army and the civilians that had been sucked into tonight’s war. “Everyone!” she shouted. “Everyone!”

Countless white faces turned to look up at her, reflecting the dim light of the moon. They all looked pale and sick and grievously fewer than the endless sea of yellow eyes just on the other side of the wall. The hush fell over them as they waited to see what she would say—to give the order to fight and have some of them die or to flee to another world and let them all live. 

Kairi took another deep breath to steady herself. “Everyone! Get to the gummi-ship hangar! We’re getting out of here!”

On the other side of the wall, the Heartless roared as if knowing they had another victory—another devoured world.

Below Kairi, she felt the clash of emotions going through all her people. The gratitude that no one else was going to die tonight, that families would stay together and they would all leave safely. The fear of what a new world would hold in store for them, fear of the unknown. Horror that one of the last three great strongholds was falling into darkness. She didn’t know what she was feeling herself. She just felt numb and felt the heat of Riku’s body beside her. 

He slid his hand into hers. “Let’s go.”

She resisted for a moment, turning back to look out over the army of darkness. If possible, it looked as if they had grown just in the few minutes Kairi and Riku had been talking. She squeezed Riku’s fingers and allowed him to lead her down from the battlement. 

Together, they went through Hollow Bastion to make sure no one was left behind. Then, they went to the gummi-ship hangar where everyone had packed into the ships. 

“Are we ready?” Kairi asked one of the mechanists.

The frizz-haired man nodded. It looked like one of the ships had given him a zap. “Yes. We were only waiting for you. Where would you like to go?”

Kairi bit her lip and glanced up into Riku’s pale face. 

“Traverse Town is bigger,” was all Riku said.

Kairi nodded. “Chart a course for Traverse Town.”

The mechanist nodded, clambered aboard, and offered Kairi his hand. Riku staggered into the ship and helped pull the door closed behind them. Then, he got over the radio and gave the order that they would all be heading to Traverse Town. Then, the ships rocketed out of the hangar and Kairi pressed her face against the window to look back at her home. Even as she watched, the Heartless broke through the second wall and poured into the castle courtyard.

Hollow Bastion fell.

**X:Traverse:X:Town:X**

Traverse Town used to be a lovely old-fashioned world, but now it was a formidable and somewhat frightening fortress. The outermost wall was barbed with wrought iron fence, heavy iron gates, and the city just behind it was sweetly Victorian with terracotta tile roofs, big amber windows full of light, and beautiful iron streetlamps. Behind the second wall, the bunkers and emergency setups were also vaguely Victorian and well-stocked. The central keep was divided into three districts, making it even stronger in case of siege. The people of Traverse Town could fall back through the three layers of the castle. Even with the shriek of the Heartless on the other side, the townsfolk continued on with their normal lives.

What made Traverse Town stronger than Hollow Bastion was that most of the people there were warriors. Squall Leonhart, Traverse Town’s elected leader, was a strong powerful man who had lived through a lot of hell. Leon trained everyone who came into Traverse Town in battle techniques and anyone unfit to fight was trained in medicine. Everyone in Traverse Town pulled their own weight and he had far less postmen-turned-soldier under crisis like Hollow Bastion. Traverse Town’s postman could shoot a bow better than most archers and still delivered the mail in his spare time.

Hollow Bastion’s fleet of gummi-ships flew into the third district and landed in the packed gummi-ship hanger. Leon, his second-in-command, and his best nurse were waiting for them in the small space left inside the hangar. On the way over, Kairi had radioed him and explained the situation. Upon arrival, the people of Hollow Bastion piled out, stretching and chattering and gazing around at the Victorian surroundings. 

Kairi and Riku hurried over to Leon.

Squall Leonhart was a tall strong man with broad shoulders and thick chocolate tresses that were mussed around his face. Over his back, he carried a massive broadsword that had to have been twice his size. He was handsome with chiseled aristocratic features, but a thick scar bisected his face, surely from a run-in with some Heartless. “Princess Sinclair,” Leon said and gestured to the two women on either side of him. “This is my second-in-command, Yuffie Kisaragi, and my head nurse, Aerith Gainsborough.”

Yuffie Kisaragi was small and thin and mostly exposed flesh and she might have been at least thirteen, if that. She was barely wearing short shorts with a low woven belt hung with several pouches, a flowered tank top, and some knee-high boots. She had thick short dark hair scraped back with a headband and big honest brown eyes and a broad grin that hadn’t yet been touched by the war. She carried so many weapons that she gave Riku a run for his money and wore heavy iron gauntlets up to her elbows and most of her exposed flesh was scarred lightly that displayed the destruction of the war. 

Aerith Gainsborough was older than Leon and Yuffie with a sweet kind face and gentle butterfly hands that spoke volumes of being a wonderful nurse. She was wearing a red dress that didn’t show blood and her thick brown hair was plaited down the length of her back and curled slightly by the humidity in the air. She smiled at them winningly when she saw them and reached out to investigate Riku’s stiff chest, but he shied away. Then, she settled back at Leon’s side and folded her hands in front of her.

“Please, just Kairi is fine,” she said and shook Leon’s offered hand. “This is Riku Crossman, my head guard.”

Leon shook Riku’s hand too. “So Hollow Bastion has fallen,” he said quietly.

Kairi nodded slowly. “We were just overrun. There were so many of them!”

“How many?” Yuffie asked. Her face darkened, but her smile remained in place. Kairi saw then that her smile was like a mask. This girl had probably lost her entire family and a part of herself to the Heartless, but she was trying to be strong. No one her age should have to be that strong yet.

“Thousands,” Riku said. “It was just an ocean of eyes.”

“Thousands?” Aerith repeated.

Kairi nodded and tucked some red hair behind her ear. “Hollow Bastion has fallen.”

“So Disney Castle and Traverse Town are the last strongholds,” Leon murmured. “What if they follow you?”

Yuffie’s flat mask-like smile wavered. “We need to up our weapon production. We need to prepare!”

Leon put a hand on her shoulder. “Yuffie, Traverse Town is prepared,” he said. 

She let out a breath and adjusted the slew of knives at her waist. “I know, I know.”

Leon turned his attention back to Kairi. “Will you come with me, Princess? We have a lot of things we’ll need to take care of now.”

Kairi nodded. 

Aerith eyed Riku as he pressed his hand to his chest. “How many of you are injured?”

“Not many,” Riku said and quickly shoved his hands into his pockets. “Five or six.”

“Would you get them together and come to the infirmary? I’d like to give you all an antibiotic just in case.”

“Oh, I’m not hurt—”

Aerith and Kairi both sent him a sharp look and Riku shuffled his feet nervously. In Hollow Bastion, medicine had always been scarce and he was used to pretending he wasn’t hurt so people hurt worse than him could have it. 

“We have plenty of medicine,” Aerith said as if reading his mind. “I grow herbs in my church so we never run out.”

Riku smiled softly. “Then I’ll get right on that now.”

“Thank you!”

Yuffie headed off into a shadowed side street, calling back to Leon that she was going to pick some Heartless off over the wall and make sure the fleet from Hollow Bastion hadn’t been followed by the mass numbers that had overrun the stronghold. Leon nodded, but Yuffie was already gone into the darkness.

“Don’t mind her,” he said to Kairi. 

But she wasn’t paying any attention to Yuffie. She was watching as Aerith investigated her injured people, Riku and her postman-turned-soldier included.

“They’re in good hands,” Leon said. “Aerith is the best.”

“I’m sure…”

Leon brought Kairi to a small house in the third district of the castle. (It was a very strange castle, very different from Hollow Bastion which had great hallowed halls and vast chambers. Traverse Town’s keep was laid out like a small city tucked inside the vast belly of the castle’s stone walls.) Inside was a great desk, a ladder leading up to a loft of beds, a small kitchen, and a single door that Kairi assumed opened into a bathroom. It was also very different from her quarters in Hollow Bastion. He offered her a chair and Kairi sat, feeling the heaviness of exhaustion creeping in on her.

“We need to contact the other worlds and let them know that Hollow Bastion has fallen,” Leon said. If he saw that she was exhausted, he didn’t care very much aside from his offering of a chair and a hot mug of cider. “And let them know that the Heartless seem to be multiplying so they can double their defenses.”

Leon flipped on the microphone for the radio and called out his transmission in a flat no-nonsense tone of voice.

“Leon,” Kairi ventured.

“What?”

“Aren’t you concerned? One of the last three great strongholds has fallen.”

He rolled his shoulders and flipped off the microphone, leaving the radio chattering in the background. “I hate the way everyone says Traverse Town, Hollow Bastion, and Disney Castle are the ‘last three strongholds.’ There are a lot of other smaller worlds that are still going strong. Look at Halloween Town! They’ve never had the Heartless even get through their gates,” he said flatly. “Even Disney Castle has been breached at least once, but Halloween Town has never!”

“But—”

“It’s true we’ve lost a lot of people to the darkness, but we’re nowhere near extinction.” He turned back to the radio and broadcasted the news of Hollow Bastion’s fall again.

Kairi felt sick.

“My advice to you, Princess, would be to have a little more faith in the strength of humanity.”

She bit her lip. “I’ve seen a lot of good people lose their hearts and kill.”

Leon patted her head as if she was a child. “We all have, but more people are able to fight back that darkness every day. Look at Yuffie—she lost her entire family and all her friends at twelve. She was the only survivor from her home world and crash-landed here in a half-shattered gummi-ship. We’ve all had it hard.” He touched her blood-stained sapphire earrings. “You’re not the only one who’s lost someone you care about.” He turned away again, but Kairi saw his hand go to the scar on his face. 

Who had Leon lost? She wondered. And what part of himself had gone away with that person?

Kairi leaned back in the chair, hugging herself and trying not to think about her dead parents… or about how she had almost lost Riku just tonight. God, it seemed like so long ago that she had lost Hollow Bastion, but it had only been a few hours. She watched Leon bustle around his little house, alternately talking over the radio with other worlds and shouting out the window to someone in Traverse Town. She wasn’t sure exactly when she slipped into a dead-sleep, but the next thing she knew was she was waking up to sunlight slanting across her face.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns?

So review people! Get the popularity back up! *woot* Pardon me… I’m a bit crazy today what with the dust and all.


	4. The Flight from Traverse Town

I’m really getting into this story. I pounded out about eight chapters for it today. Eight good long solid chapters! I’m having great fun this week. I also cleaned my house from top to bottom, even scrubbed the floors! I’m just working so hard!

**X:Traverse:X:Town:X**

When Kairi woke up, she was tucked neatly in a bed up in the loft of Leon’s little house. Her leather jerkin and heavy leather boots were waiting patiently for her on a chair along with a quiver of white-fletched arrows and a light hickory bow. She dressed quickly, scraped her hair back from her face, and shouldered the weapons that had been left for her. She clambered down the ladder and found that the little house was empty.

She wasn’t the kind of person to just stay where she was, left behind, so she pushed out the heavy door and roamed the third district of the castle, looking for a familiar face. Finally, she wandered into the second district and then the first where she found Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Riku, and a few other people gathered in a little café. She hurried over, waving, and Riku was the first person to see her.

“Kairi!” he called cheerfully.

“Riku, how are you feeling?” she asked and slid into the chair he pulled up for her.

“Great! Those herbs Aerith gave me worked wonders,” he said and rotated both arms as if to prove that he was feeling no pain.

Aerith smiled and passed Kairi a mug of something hot and sweet. “Drink up. It’ll warm your bones.”

Kairi took a sip and it tasted like someone had put a drop of rum in it. 

“How did you sleep, Princess?” Leon asked.

Kairi blushed. “I told you just Kairi is fine and I’m sorry. I was just so tired. I hope I didn’t miss anything.”

“Nothing important,” Leon said flatly. “Just the Heartless outside our gates have doubled overnight.”

“D-doubled?!” Kairi gasped.

Yuffie nodded. “We’re clearing out the outermost section out so we can let the Heartless in and destroy them!” She banged her fist, heavy metal gauntlet and all, on the table and the mugs jumped. One nearly toppled, but Aerith grabbed it.

Leon put his hand over her gauntlet. “Stop.”

“L-let them i-in?!” Kairi gaped.

“Are you serious?!” Riku demanded. 

Leon lifted his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you do the same thing in Hollow Bastion?” Yuffie asked.

“No!” Riku and Kairi said loudly.

“Oh, well that’s what we do here,” Yuffie said coolly. “We open the gates to the outermost section, let all the Heartless in, and slaughter back their numbers. It works every time and if we look like we’re going to be overrun, the archers up on the walls take them out.”

“We were hoping you would fight with us, Riku,” Leon said.

“I’d be happy to!” Riku said cheerfully.

“What?!” Kairi said quickly.

He smiled at her. “Kairi, I’m more than happy to fight to protect my home.”

“Actually, Princess, we were hoping you would stay up on the walls with the archers,” Leon said. “Everyone in Traverse Town pulls their weight and Riku was telling me that you are good with a bow. I left one for you and I see you found it.”

Kairi’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but Riku and Leon were both staring at her so she finally nodded. “I’d be happy to help out,” she said finally.

Leon didn’t smile.

…

Night fell swiftly over Traverse Town and the amber streetlamps began glowing brightly, so bright that it was almost like night hadn’t fallen. Kairi shouldered her quiver and stood on the high walls with the other archers, looking down over the others that were going to fight hand-to-hand combat against the Heartless. The bright light turned Riku’s silver-white hair into a bright beacon, glinted off Yuffie’s heavy gauntlets, and off Leon’s long claymore. 

“Open the gates!” Leon shouted.

Kairi’s heart thundered against the cage of her ribs and her hands turned sweaty around her bow. She squeezed the arrow between her fingers and watched as the great gates swung open and the army of glowing yellow eyes poured in. She let her arrow fly and heard the answering shriek of death below.

“Archers!” Leon shouted.

All around her, the archers assumed the position and a hail of arrows rained down on the Heartless below. 

Yuffie was a blur of flesh and metal, slaughtering creatures with a volatile fury left and right. Riku was sleeker, more relaxed and comfortable with his weapons and body, but Kairi saw a stiffness that came from his injured back. Leon’s claymore was cutting down the monsters in a flat circle around him, lopping off heads like a lawn mower to dandelions. There was a veritable army of humans down below, fighting off the vast numbers of Heartless.

Occasionally, Leon gave the shout for archers and arrows rained down. 

Then, the first wave of Heartless broke through the warriors, hit the wall, and poured over each other like water. They were trying to climb the wall and Kairi didn’t want to make any assumptions, but it looked like they were trying to scale the wall right below her. Were they trying to get to her? Just her? No, that was insane. The Heartless didn’t care who they devoured, just so long as they devoured.

She hailed arrows down on the monsters and Riku cut a path through them, shouting her name. The first Heartless breached the top of the wall and leaped for Kairi, shrieking madly. With a scream, Kairi crashed down and the other archers tore the monster off of her. Another Heartless was there to take its place in an instant, tearing into Kairi’s body. Kairi screamed Riku’s name. Again, the others archers tore the monster off and Kairi noticed that even though they had crested the wall, the Heartless weren’t going after anyone else. 

They were only after her!

But why?

“Get her out of there!” Leon shouted and his voice cut through everything. 

Seconds later, both Yuffie and Riku were at her side. Riku slung his arm around her shoulders and held her tight against his chest and she heard his breath rattle. Yuffie was fiercer now that she had someone to defend and they quickly fought the Heartless back down over the wall.

“Leon!” Yuffie shouted down, gasping for breath. “What should we do?!”

“Get her out of here!” Leon shouted back and lopped down a great arc of Heartless. 

Riku hauled Kairi backwards, slinging her in front of him, and Yuffie closed the gap behind him. Together, they battled through and got Kairi back behind the safety of the innermost wall. The sounds of battle dimmed and even Leon’s shouting went away.

A young woman in a worn blue dress came up to Yuffie and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Yuffie wiped at some dark blood on her face. “Everything’s fine. Just a little issue. Do we have more arrows?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Can you bring them up to the wall?”

“Yes, of course.”

Yuffie whirled to Riku and Kairi the moment the girl was out of sight. “What was that?!” she demanded.

“I don’t know!” Kairi shouted and Riku hugged his princess tighter against his side, protecting her. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?! Were you calling them or something?!” Yuffie shouted.

“What do you mean?” Riku asked her.

“You saw them! Those monsters were only after her!”

Riku’s grip tightened on Kairi. “That’s impossible!”

“It’s not impossible! I saw it with my own eyes!” Yuffie shoved Riku hard, heavy gauntlets throwing him backwards. “You’ve put us all in terrible danger! Those Heartless followed you here! That’s why Hollow Bastion was overrun! They’re after you, Princess Sinclair! They are after you!”

Leon materialized out of the shadows, grabbed Yuffie around the waist, lifted her up, and set her down on the other side of himself. “Stop it, Yuffie,” he said and then turned to Kairi and Riku. “Is there any reason the Heartless are after you specifically?”

Kairi shook her head and clutched at Riku. “I have no idea!”

Yuffie squawked in the background, rattling her gauntlets angrily.

“Take a breath,” Leon said to Yuffie. Then, he turned back to Kairi and Riku. “Did anything happen in Hollow Bastion that you didn’t tell us about?”

“No! I have no idea why the Heartless would be after me!” Kairi protested.

“What’s happening at the wall?” Yuffie asked Leon.

“They’re surging and there’s millions of them,” Leon said flatly. “I think they may overrun us.”

“What?” Yuffie gasped.

Leon turned back to Kairi. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave Traverse Town, Princess,” he said. “Disney Castle is a fortress and the king is far more equipped to handle this kind of situation.”

“But, what about all my people?” Kairi whispered.

“They’re only after you. Everyone else can stay, even you Riku,” Leon said.

Kairi’s heart leaped into her throat. 

Riku hugged her. “No. I’m going with Kairi.”

Leon nodded. “I figured you’d say that. Please, come with me.” 

Then, Leon and Yuffie hustled them into the gummi-ship hangar, selected a small ship perfect for two people, and loaded them up. Yuffie had her arms crossed over her chest, but she removed two small knives from her waist and handed them over to Riku and Kairi as a way of saying goodbye. Then, she hurried off into the darkness and back to the battle.

“Don’t mind her.” Leon squeezed Kairi’s fingers and shook Riku’s hand. “I hope to see you both again,” he said softly.

Kairi nodded and hoped he couldn’t hear her heart racing. They bid Leon goodbye and then Riku pushed Kairi up the steps. He closed the door with Leon’s help. Then, alone, the homeless pair went out into the deep dark recesses of space. For a moment, Riku let the ship float in the abyss and silence of the space between worlds. Then, he spotted the giant Heartless ship on the other side of the gleaming beacon of Traverse Town. The jets flared up, fire shooting through the darkness, and the ship raced after them. Riku floored the engines until it felt as if the gummi-ship was going to break apart around them. Finally, they escaped the pursuing Heartless ship and Riku allowed the ship to go idle again.

“Kairi,” he murmured.

“Yeah?”

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

“Kairi—”

“What can I do, Riku?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Heartless are after me! Riku, what am I going to do?”

“You need to calm—”

“How can I? I’m going to bring ruin to any world we go to!”

“Kairi—”

“You should have stayed in Traverse Town, Riku! You’re a sitting duck if you stay with me!”

“Kairi, please, listen to me!”

“No, Riku! I’m a bad omen!”

“Kairi—!” He grabbed her narrow shoulders and shook her lightly. There were long scratches on her throat and chest, not deep enough to be dangerous to her life, but weeping blood. “Kairi, stop this!”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Riku, it’s my fault Hollow Bastion was overrun and I almost destroyed Traverse Town!”

“Stop it,” he said firmly and shook her. “Kairi, stop this. If the Heartless are after you it must be because you can do something to stop them. Why else would they be after you?”

“Do something to stop them?” she repeated.

Riku nodded. “Yeah. The Heartless only want to take over the worlds and they don’t care anything about people. They never specifically went after your parents or after Leon even though they were the ones leading the strongholds or even you after your parents’ deaths. They don’t care about that, but for some reason they went after you tonight, maybe even before then and we just never noticed.”

Kairi’s mouth still hung open. “Stop them…?”

Riku squeezed her shoulders. “Yes, Kairi.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know.”

Silence stretched between them, overpowering with the addend silence of deep space. The first time Kairi had seen deep space, she felt like the world had ended. It was just blackness as far as the eye could see, like someone had spilled ink across her eyes or blindfolded her or killed her.

“Come in Kairi Sinclair and Riku Crossman,” crackled the radio. “Come in.”

Riku hurried to answer. “This is Riku. Who is this?”

“This is King Mickey at Disney Castle. I wanted to let you know that we’ve doubled our defenses and are prepared for your arrival.”

“Um, King Mickey, did Leon tell you that the Heartless are after Kairi?”

“He did. He told us everything,” the king said kindly. “We’re prepared. Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?”

There was a light chuckle though the meaning was lost in the crackle of the radio. “Yes, we’re positive. So when should we expect you?”

“We’re in deep space right now. Some Heartless were on our tail, but we lost them.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. We should be there in about four hours.”

“Okay. Radio if anything happens and please be safe,” the king said and the radio fell silent save the crackle of space.

Riku went to Kairi. She had slid to her knees, hugging herself tightly, and Riku gathered her up in his arms. He carried her to the other seat on the bridge and sat her down. Then, he took the controls beside her and flew them silently to Disney Castle through the endless darkness of deep space. He prayed that Heartless weren’t on their tail and that they wouldn’t be chased from another world. Then, he wondered exactly why the Heartless were after Kairi and why he was leaving himself in deliberate danger.

**X:X:X**

I think you’ll all meet Sora in the next chapter. Who’s excited? 

Questions, comments, concerns?


	5. The Arrival at Disney Castle

Wow, long chapter here, but you all get to finally meet Sora.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

Finally, the bright beacon of King Mickey’s Castle came into sight through the darkness of deep space, gleaming like a mirrored shield, and many soldiers bustled along on the outermost wall. There was a raging river circling the keep and the Heartless, though there were thousands, were all trapped on the other side of the moat. Any that dared swim across were dashed on the deadly black rapids. Riku guided the gummi-ship into the hangar at Disney Castle and the heavy doors slammed shut like a mouth and the ship was a delicacy. Kairi woke with a start in the seat beside him, jolting up and sending her bow, quiver, and the knife Yuffie had given her clattering across the floor. 

“Where are we?”

“Disney Castle.”

“Really?”

Riku nodded.

The door to the gummi-ship opened and King Mickey climbed up the stairs. For a moment, Kairi and Riku both stared at the respected king and Kairi felt her eyes roll out of her head. She had heard about girls looking mousey, but never boys and she had certainly never expected the king to be a mouse. 

But he was.

King Mickey was small and cute with big honest black eyes and big ears and a long skinny tail. He was dressed casually in red pants and a kingly sort of shirt with heavy gloves and a sword strapped to his leather belt. On his big feet were heavy leather boots, but he had a sweet smile and a kind high-pitched voice. He embraced Kairi and shook Riku’s hand strongly. “Welcome to Disney Castle,” he said and swept his arm out to the entourage behind him.

“This is my wife and queen, Minnie.” 

Minnie was a mouse, just like her husband, but she was wearing a fine pink dress of silk and lace with some delicate heels that showed she was no warrior queen. She smiled kindly and curtsied to the newcomers. “Welcome, children,” she said and hugged them both tenderly.

“Royal Court Mage, Donald Duck.”

While Minnie and Mickey were mice, Donald was a duck with a big yellow bill and a coating of white feathers. He was wearing a blue hat and a blue overcoat and carried a staff. “So, you’re being chased by the Heartless?” he asked and he had a grating nasally voice that was reminiscent of having a cold or being angry.

“Captain of the Royal Knights, Goofy.”

So there was a duck and some mice, but Kairi wasn’t exactly sure what Goofy was. Was he a dog? But standing at his side was a yellow dog and they were very different so he must not have been a dog. Either way, he had a broad happy smile, a bald head and a funny hat, and carried a giant shield over his shoulder. “And this is Pluto,” Goofy said and gave the dog a pat on the head. (1)

“My son, Prince Sora, is somewhere about the castle, but I couldn’t find him.” 

Kairi nodded, smiling faintly. “I’m Princess Kairi Sinclair and this is Riku Crossman,” she introduced and curtsied in return to the royalty before her. “Thank you for allowing us in despite the… situation…”

“We have to stick together,” Mickey said by way of explanation. “It’s a pleasure to welcome you even under the circumstances.”

“Let’s all go into the castle and have something to eat,” Minnie offered. “Then you can tell us everything that has happened.”

Kairi nodded, tucked some hair behind her ear, and handed Riku her bow and quiver. She kept the knife he had given her tucked inside her bodice and put the knife from Yuffie into her pocket. For some reason, she wanted to keep them both with her even though she was safe here. 

Silently, she and Riku followed Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto into the castle overhead.

…

Once they had all settled at King Mickey’s round table with a smorgasbord of food and drink laid out before them, Kairi told Mickey everything that had happened since the fall of Hollow Bastion. Then, she asked the king why he thought the Heartless were after her specifically. 

“I don’t know, Kairi,” Minnie said softly and shook her head. “But I’m sure there’s a reason. Maybe it has something to do with those Princesses that were mentioned on the final transmission from Kingdom Hearts.”

Kairi’s head snapped up. “The Princesses from the transmission?”

“Well, the transmission also mentioned the wielder of the Keyblade and Sora has the Keyblade.”

“You have the Key Wielder here?” Riku yelped out.

Mickey nodded. “Yes. He’s my son.”

“Your son? He’s a mouse?”

Minnie looked saddened but Mickey laughed softly. “No, Sora is human,” he explained. “Minnie and I were unable to conceive a child so we adopted Sora after his world was destroyed and he came here with the other refugees.”

“Then the Keyblade really exists?” Riku asked.

Mickey nodded.

“But what are the Princesses?” Riku asked.

Mickey shrugged. “I don’t know, but if the Heartless are after Kairi and she’s also a princess, that can’t just be coincidence.”

Kairi wrung her thin fingers. “But what can I do? I’m not special.”

Riku squeezed her hand under the table and offered her a small smile. 

“Well, we can work it all out in the morning. Tonight, you all deserve some rest. We’ve had rooms made up for you,” Minnie said and rose from the table. “Goofy, would you show them to their rooms? I’m going to go look for Sora.”

“I’ll help you,” Mickey offered and followed his wife from the room.

“Follow me!” Goofy said cheerfully and led Kairi and Riku through the halls of Disney Castle.

Even though Kairi had slept on the flight from Traverse Town to Disney Castle, she stripped out of her clothes and crawled into the plush bed. She snuggled deep in the cool crisp sheets and buried her head in the pillow. Quickly, sleep overwhelmed her. She didn’t even have time to think about why the Heartless were after her.

…

When Kairi Sinclair woke up in the morning, there was a light linen dress folded neatly on the bedside table for her and the blood-stained sweat-streaked clothing that she had been wearing for over two days had been taken away. (Had it really only been two days since Hollow Bastion had fallen? It felt like an eternity.) She shoved her feet into her boots, tucked her knives into the bodice of the borrowed dress, and left her room in search of Riku. 

Strangely, Disney Castle was deserted.

Kairi wandered her way outside into the castle courtyard and discovered that everyone was gathered there. She nudged her way quietly from the back to where she saw a gleam of silver hair and grasped Riku by the back of his jacket. He glanced down, saw her, and smiled broadly. 

“Hey Kairi. Did you sleep well?” he asked conversationally.

She let the conversation go, unnerved by everyone watching her. “What’s going on?” she asked him.

“Nothing really. King Mickey is explaining the situation.”

“The whole situation?” Kairi felt her eyes widen.

Riku nodded and patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“Kairi, will you come up here, please?” King Mickey called down from the small platform he was standing on. Kairi must have looked nervous, as pale and translucent as she felt, because he offered her a comforting smile and Minnie did as well. 

Standing just behind the royal couple was the strangest boy Kairi had ever seen in her life. 

Even though Mickey had explained that he and Minnie had adopted Sora, Kairi had still been expecting another mouse or at least a mousey-looking child, but she found herself staring up at the most beautiful human boy she had ever seen in her life. But there was also something sickeningly strange about him. He had lush chocolate tresses and a beautiful smooth aristocratic face with fine cheekbones, soft pink lips, and a long straight nose, yet he wore a hauntingly frighteningly blank expression, completely devoid of emotion. His pale flesh was perfect white—pale as moonlight or fresh cream—in places, but veined with thick black darkness in others. The darkness had crept up his throat, over one cheek, and was stretching out fingers through the white of one beautiful cerulean blue eye. One hand was nothing but black flesh with long jagged claws while the other was still white with small rounded fingernails. Hanging from his blackened hand was a large silver key with a golden hilt. The teeth of it were violently jagged and streaked with dark dried blood. 

Was this the Key Bearer?

“Kairi?” Mickey called again and Riku nudged her gently forward. 

She stumbled on the thick green grass and put one foot on the platform. 

Immediately, the young man’s beautiful sky-colored eyes snapped from some distant point to her face. His gaze felt like a physical blow and she noticed the eye filled with fingers of darkness was also flecked with gold amongst the deep blue. His expression remained smooth and flat yet he crossed the platform in only three steps, moving quickly, and came to stand before her. He was small and slender, about her size, and the Keyblade he carried was as long as he was from shoulder to the ground. 

Silently, he dropped to his knees before her on the platform in a low bow and laid the weapon at her feet without letting go of it. The curve of his back was sinuous and thin beneath a shirt that was the same white as the patches of pure flesh. It made the darkness on his body look even darker. He didn’t speak, didn’t make any sort of expression, and didn’t touch her yet the gasp that ran through the assembly of people was shocking. 

Minnie looked about to faint and Mickey grabbed his queen’s shoulders tightly. 

Kairi looked down at the top of the prince’s head and then at the blood-stained shining key and her heart began to race. She felt as if someone had reached inside her chest, grabbed her heart tightly, and was trying to pull it out of her chest. The Keyblade laid at her feet began to gleam with a weird bright light, faintly pinkish as if blood had been run through it. The light blazed so brightly that it rivaled the sun and blinded everyone. Then, slowly, the blinding light began to fade. 

Kairi suddenly felt as if she was going to pass out, dizzy and light-headed, and nearly slid to her knees alongside the prince. She had no idea what kept her standing, but something did. “What’s going on?” she whispered, but no one answered her.

At her feet, the prince simply stood up with his no-longer-glowing weapon still clenched in his black-twisted-clawed hand, turned around, and returned to his father’s side. His expression was like that of a statue, so unchanging that Kairi wasn’t sure that he was even blinking.

“What’s going on?” she said again.

“Kairi, can I talk to you? Please, right now,” Minnie said quickly. 

To the assembly, Mickey said, “Everyone, we’ll talk about this later.”

Then, Mickey and Minnie swarmed Kairi like dogs on the hunt. Mickey grabbed Sora by his collar and towed his son along behind them and Riku raced afterwards in defense of his princess. Once they were tucked around the corner of the hedges, safely among the blooms of roses and lilacs in the garden, Minnie seemed to forget everything she wanted to say to Kairi. She just stared at the princess with her eyes wide and Mickey still had his fingers twisted in Sora’s white shirt. Sora was the only one who’s expression hadn’t changed an inch.

“How did you do that?” Mickey asked finally.

Kairi still felt light-headed and her chest ached, heart throbbing. “Do what?” she murmured.

“How did you get Sora to respond like that?” Minnie asked quickly.

“I don’t know…” Kairi wavered on her feet. 

Riku came up at her back. He grasped her shoulders and held her steady. “Kairi, are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded, but shivered in his arms. Her skin was covered in cold sweat. 

Riku rubbed her arms soothingly. “Kairi?”

“I’m okay,” she repeated.

“How did you get Sora to respond?” Mickey asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything.”

“And what was that with the Keyblade?” Mickey asked, but he was more talking to himself now. “The glowing? What on earth is going on here?!” He turned to Sora, grabbed his son by the shoulders, and shook him, but Sora didn’t seem to care. “Sora, what was that?”

Minnie put her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Mickey, stop it. You know he won’t…”

“Won’t what?” Riku asked.

“He doesn’t speak,” Minnie murmured.

“He’s a mute?”

“Sort of…”

Kairi pushed her hair out of her face. “What do you mean?” she whispered and eyed the fingers of deep inky darkness stretching out across his moon-pale flesh. “What happened to him?”

Mickey wet his lips and squeezed Minnie’s hand. “Only a few people know the truth about Sora. Everyone else just thinks he’s mute and has a strange skin condition, but the truth is…” the great king struggled for the words he wanted, for a better way to say this, but there was no way to get the words out. “Sora is… his heart was devoured by the Heartless and he’s becoming a Heartless himself.”

There was a moment of silence while this sunk in. Then Riku and Kairi shouted in unison, “WHAT?!”

Minnie quickly stepped forward because Riku had his hand on the knife at his waist, eyeing Sora as if he would leap upon them at any moment and start tearing Kairi to pieces. “You don’t understand and we don’t completely either, but it seems that the Keyblade is acting as his heart.”

“Then what’s with the…?” Riku waved his hand around his face.

“The more he uses the Keyblade, the more it saps Sora’s body away. He’s slowly becoming a Heartless,” Mickey murmured.

“Then, you know eventually you’ll have to…” Riku trailed off. He didn’t say it because it was clear the king and queen had already thought about what they would eventually be forced to do. When Sora became a Heartless completely, they would have to kill him.

Minnie’s face darkened and Mickey looked quickly to Sora.

“But, why doesn’t he speak?” Kairi whispered.

Minnie gently took Sora’s pale hand, the blackened one was still clutching the Keyblade, and rubbed it gently. “When his heart was eaten, he lost everything that made him human,” she explained quietly. “His ability to speak and relate to emotions, his expressions and his desire, his drive to live—all of it was wiped out when he lost his heart.”

“Everything?” Kairi whispered.

Minnie nodded. “In the year Sora has been with us, we have never seen anything like that display from him before. He knelt at your feet and the Keyblade blazed.” She shook her head slowly in disbelief. “All Sora does is fight the Heartless at the gates,” she murmured. “He never responds to anything. Once, his arm was cut pretty badly and he just walked around the castle dripping blood as if he didn’t even feel it. And he must not have because his expression never changed while I was stitching him up.”

“That’s so strange,” Kairi whispered.

“Kairi, why don’t you try talking to him? Maybe he’ll respond to you again,” Minnie asked. 

Kairi wet her lips. “I don’t know.”

“Please,” the queen begged.

“He must respond to you somewhat,” Riku butted in. 

Mickey shook his head. “Nothing. Minnie, would you show him?”

Minnie’s eyes filled with tears, but she nodded. Gently, she cupped Sora’s face in her hands and lifted his chin so he was looking at her, but even as they watched, his eyes slid to the side and stared at some point in the distance. “Sora, sweetheart, there are thousands of Heartless at the gate. Don’t you want to fight?”

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

It was as if Sora didn’t even hear her voice. 

“That’s unreal,” Riku mumbled. 

Sora’s eyes slid across the horizon, back and forth, back and forth, but never focused on any one thing. 

“Can I try?” Kairi whispered.

Minnie nodded and pulled Sora towards Kairi. Like a puppet on strings, Sora came towards her and stopped in front of her like a stone statue. Gently, Minnie passed Sora’s hand into Kairi’s, but the boy remained completely unresponsive even as the bruise-like darkness beneath his skin swirled and shifted. 

“Wow,” Minnie whispered.

She held his cool hand gingerly and the bones of his fingers felt so fragile and thin, as if he was made out of glass. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. Experimentally, she passed her hand over Sora’s arm from wrist to shoulder, watching the threads of blackness swirl like clouds but didn’t go away. “What’s happening to him?” 

“It looks like you’re pushing the Heartless inside him away,” Mickey murmured.

“Kairi, touch his other hand,” Minnie pleaded.

Kairi eyed his twisted claws and ink-black flesh and the long jagged key hanging from his fingers. She didn’t want to… the memory of the Heartless on her back in Traverse Town, cold claws digging into her flesh, came screaming back. What if he dug into her like that?

“Kairi, please?” Minnie whispered.

She couldn’t say ‘no’ to the desperate mother so she reached for Sora’s other hand. Even when she laid her fingers on his wrist, the thick darkness there didn’t retreat. There wasn’t a single change there—his flesh remained pitch-black and twisted. 

Minnie let out her breath in a rush that was almost like a sob and Mickey hugged her tightly. “It was too much to hope for,” he whispered to his queen. 

“Kairi, what about his face?” Minnie pleaded.

Kairi lifted her hand to his cheek, cupping the side with the fingers of black gingerly. The blackness in his skin swirled like clouds as before, but the darkness in his eye and the flecks of gold in the depths of the cerulean blue remained there. “Sora,” she whispered.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped to her face, focused and clear. He stared into her eyes as if seeing every inch of her soul. 

Kairi shuddered under his gaze. “Sora, don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Minnie asked. “Oh dear, he’s looking right at her.”

“What?” Mickey yelped. 

Quickly, the king and queen came on either side of Kairi and watched their son. Sora was still staring into Kairi’s face without blinking, his face smooth as a china plate and expressionless. The only movement at all was the darkness swirling around beneath his flesh from Kairi’s touch. Kairi couldn’t help but stare back at him, as if his gaze had sucked her in like a whirlpool and she couldn’t get away. The cerulean blue… she was drowning, falling deep into his empty gaze.

“Hey? Hello?” Riku asked. He put his hand on Kairi’s shoulder and the moment shattered.

Sora’s gaze slid away to some far-off world again and Kairi pulled her hands away. 

“Oh Sora,” Minnie whispered, but her adopted son didn’t even glance at her.

**X:X:X**

(1) The age old question—what came first, the chicken or the egg? (And I know the answer to that one, they both came at the same time!) So, the real question is—WHAT EXACTLY IS GOOFY?! Because if Pluto is a dog and Goofy is a dog, then how come Goofy walks on two legs and talks and all that good stuff and Pluto doesn’t? It’s just always confused me and I just had to sneak it in so I could confuse other people.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	6. Conversations with Sora

These are turning out to be some crazy-long chapters.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

Riku Crossman and the fallen princess of Hollow Bastion, Kairi Sinclair, were standing together on the battlements of Disney Castle. Down below, the monstrous army of Heartless was still trapped on the other side of the raging river. Even as the pair watched, a trio of the monsters dove in together and tried to swim across but were dashed to pieces on the sharp rocks within seconds. It didn’t look like they would ever make it across the river, but no one had ever accused the Heartless of being smart. Disney Castle seemed impossibly impenetrable, protected, and above all safe. 

“That was so strange,” Riku said suddenly.

“What was?” Kairi asked dreamily. She was so happy to finally be in a safe place and not even the thought of how badly the Heartless wanted to kill her was bothering her. She was just happy standing in the warm breeze and enjoying the sunlight with her best friend. 

“That kid.”

“Huh?” Kairi lurched from her dream-world with a screech, crash-landing back into her head.

“King Mickey’s kid,” Riku repeated.

Kairi nodded slowly. “Sora,” she said finally.

“Yeah. I don’t like the look of him,” Riku said coldly.

She chewed her lower lip. “He’s…”

“He’s turning into a Heartless,” Riku said with an exasperated wave of his arms. “And he’s living here like its nothing. I think King Mickey and Queen Minnie are making a huge mistake. It’s a total lapse in safety having him in here with no one watching him!”

“I don’t think he’s a danger,” Kairi said softly.

“Are you kidding, Kairi?” Riku’s green eyes were wide. “What do you think is going to happen if he turns into a Heartless inside the keep?”

“What, Riku?”

“He’ll probably throw open the gates and let all the Heartless inside! Then Traverse Town will be the only remaining stronghold and I’m not sure how long Leon’s ‘let-them-in-and-slaughter-them’ tactic will work anyway,” Riku said. “If Disney Castle falls…”

“Riku,” Kairi put her hand gently on his arm, “I don’t think Sora is a danger. I really don’t.”

“And why not? Because he’s such a pretty boy?” Riku growled.

Kairi punched his arm lightly. “Don’t be like that, Riku.”

“Like what?”

“Like a jealous moron,” she said. “I just… I don’t think Sora’s a danger to us, that’s all. I don’t think he’s even close to turning into a Heartless yet. Besides, he’s a legend—he’s the Key Bearer.”

“That’s another thing that I don’t understand. Why would the Keyblade choose a wielder without a heart?”

“You don’t think that weapon is alive, do you, Riku?”

“I’ve never seen anyone else with a Keyblade.”

“So it could just be a rare weapon,” Kairi offered.

“Weapons aren’t rare, Kairi,” Riku said. “Besides, you heard what King Mickey said about that transmission from Kingdom Hearts. ‘The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it.’ It sounds pretty legendary and it also makes it sound as if the Keyblade chooses who is going to wield it. You know… like King Arthur’s Excalibur, the Sword in the Stone and all that jazz.”

Kairi chuckled. “I know what you mean, but I just don’t believe that weapon is alive.”

Riku folded his arms across his chest. “What about that glowing thing?”

The sickening feeling of her heart being grabbed in her chest and pulled hard plowed into her. She almost fell to her knees. It was like a physical blow. “I don’t know,” she forced out. “Maybe that’s why the Heartless want me dead so badly.”

“Kairi, are you okay? You look pale.”

She felt pale too. “Yeah, I’m okay. Maybe I just need to lay down. Maybe everything finally caught up with me.”

Riku put his arm around her shoulders and led her down from the battlements. He walked her all the way to her room, tucked her into bed despite her protests, and then left her alone. Kairi listened to his footsteps, the familiar thunk-thunk of his heavy combat boots, fading and then threw back the covers so she could get out of bed. She was feeling a lot better now, much better now that the conversation about Sora was over. But she was forced to wonder exactly what was going on!

Why did the Heartless want her dead?

Why did the Keyblade blaze bright in her presence?

Why did Sora, who never responded to anything, respond to her?

She decided that maybe she needed to try to talk to Sora, but several people were already ahead of her.

…

Queen Minnie cornered (maybe cornered was the wrong word because Sora only ambled if he was ever on the move) Sora in the courtyard where he was sitting there on a stone bench among the flora of the garden though all the beauty was lost on him. He was just staring off into the distance as he always did, expressionless with his beautiful eyes dull and blank and slowly turning hideous gold. She knelt at the feet of her strange and beautiful son and took his good hand gently. His skin was ice-cold to the touch.

“Sora?” she began.

He didn’t even look at her.

Minnie wondered again if Sora was his name. When he had been brought here to Disney Castle with one other survivor from his home world, he was already cursed with his affliction—locked in with the Keyblade and slowly becoming a Heartless, unable to speak or respond, though his flesh was still pale and perfect then—and the survivor had died minutes after the desperate crash-landing. She and Mickey had chosen the name Sora for him because of his beautiful cerulean sky-colored eyes.

“Sora?” she tried again.

Still nothing! He just stared somewhere into the distance.

“Sora, please. I know you can hear me,” Minnie said and clutched his good hand in her own. “Please, sweetheart, tell me what that was. What happened when your Keyblade started glowing?” She slowly let her hand wander to his blackened arm and to the ice-cold hilt of her son’s Keyblade. “Sora, please, talk to me. Say something. Say anything. Tell me what that was.”

But Sora just continued staring off into the distant with his farseeing gaze.

Minnie gave up on trying to find out what had happened with the Keyblade, the glowing, and his kneeling before Kairi Sinclair. Instead, she sat beside him on the cold stone bench with his hand clasped gently between her own. She rubbed his fragile fingers and chatted to him about everything under the sun even though she was completely aware that he wasn’t listening to her. Sora didn’t listen to anything, but she always talked to him like this. It made her feel like maybe some shard of his heart, buried lost deep inside him, was listening and enjoying her words, but she knew that was unlikely.

Sora’s heart had been devoured by the Heartless. He was the shell of a young man now, barely even a shell. He was more like a ghost, haunting the castle corridors all night when he didn’t sleep and slinking about during the day. He just drifted through his life without a drive to live or any reason to.

“Sora,” Minnie whispered.

But he still didn’t respond.

…

Mickey watched his wife with Sora from one of the castle windows and his heart ached for her. All she wanted was a child of her own, a precious baby, but she was infertile. She would never have a child of her own. When Sora’s broken-down gummi-ship had crash-landed into the castle courtyard and Minnie saw the beautiful fifteen-year-old boy stumble out of the smoking ruins, Mickey knew it was love at first sight. Minnie did everything she could to help Sora—to pull him back from the edge of being a Heartless—but she may as well not even have existed. 

Sora didn’t see anything around him, not Minnie’s love or the war or anything.

Minnie must be feeling horrible right now because Sora’s first response hadn’t been to her or any of her efforts, but the little princess from Hollow Bastion and Kairi had done nothing more than step onto the platform where Sora could see her. Minnie was probably wishing beyond wishes that Sora had responded to something she had done. 

But he hadn’t. 

For the first time, Mickey was upset with his son. And that was a tall order because Sora was always so unresponsive, didn’t listen to a word, and didn’t even sleep. So, with that on his mind, King Mickey hustled out to the gardens after he saw his wife walk away and confronted Sora.

For all the good it did, he may as well have stayed inside.

“Sora, we need to talk,” Mickey began firmly, but Sora’s gaze remained distant. He didn’t even seem to be breathing, but Sora always looked like that. It was almost like he didn’t quite exist on this plane of reality. It was as if he was a ghost. “Sora, I know you hear me.”

Nothing.

“Sora, why did you respond to Kairi and not your mother?”

Nothing.

“Sora, answer me!”

Nothing.

“Sora, I don’t understand why you’re so silent. Even those creatures at our gates make noise, but you never make a sound.”

Nothing.

“Fine! Sit there alone in the garden then!” Mickey shouted. 

Then, the king turned sharply away. Just like that, he stalked away from his son and didn’t look back. Maybe if he had been paying attention, he would have seen Riku lingering in the shadow of the castle, watching Sora with narrowed jade-green eyes.

…

After both the king and queen had gone, Riku dared approach the strange prince. As before when his parents approached, Sora didn’t even glance at Riku. The young man’s posture was rigid, like that of a statue, and his gaze was just as stony. He stared out at nothing, at the wall, at the band of pale sunlight on the horizon, at something no one else could see. Silently, Riku sat down beside the prince and let a moment of silence hang between them. Maybe, if he sat here long enough with silence between them, Sora would come out of his shell and say something or respond as he had for Kairi.

Minutes passed, but Sora acted as if Riku wasn’t even there.

“So,” Riku began conversationally. “You’re becoming a Heartless?”

Sora didn’t say anything or even blink.

“How about that weapon of yours? The Keyblade, right?”

Still nothing from Sora.

“Can I see it?” Riku asked. The Keyblade was the one weapon that could save their entire universe and here it was wasted in the hands of some unresponsive boy who didn’t seem to care about anything that went on around him. “Well, Sora, can I see your weapon?”

Sora didn’t respond.

Cautiously, Riku clasped the smooth roundness just beneath the golden hilt and a sort of tremor ran through him. The power in that thing! It was unreal! He could feel it just by touching it and now that he was aware of it, he could just feel the waves of power radiating from the massive gold and silver key. 

“Come on, Sora, just for a minute,” he said because Sora was still staring somewhere in the distance with his blackened clawed fingertips clasped tightly around the hilt. Riku pried lightly at those fingers, shocked by the icy-chill in Sora’s skin. “Sora?” he murmured.

Suddenly, Sora’s grip on the Keyblade was gone. The weapon slipped from his grip and clattered on the cobblestones. Riku quickly tried to pick it up, but he couldn’t. It was almost as if it was stuck to the ground or maybe too heavy for him to lift, but that seemed impossible. Riku was twice Sora’s size and he could even swing a claymore, but he couldn’t pick up Sora’s Keyblade. 

Suddenly, Riku was aware of a cold gaze drilling into him like a knife in the back and he looked up quickly into Sora’s haunting face. 

Sora’s expression remained purely blank, but the darkness spread down his throat and his claws grew even longer. The fingers of black were spreading across his face, reaching into his cerulean-blue eye and overwhelming it with hideous gold. It was as if the Keyblade had been holding back the tide of darkness and now that it was gone from Sora’s grip, that darkness was spiraling out of control. And Riku couldn’t do anything! He couldn’t even pick up the Keyblade to put it back into Sora’s hand.

Instead, Riku grabbed the young man’s narrow shoulders and shook him. “Sora! Pick that up! Right now!”

Sora stared at him with that one gold eye, the other blank and blue like the careless sky. Then, his strange mouth twisted up into a sort of grin and Riku saw row after row of jagged teeth inside that small frail mouth and some kind of guttural growl came out.

“Sora!” Riku shouted. “Pick up your weapon!”

Then, he grabbed Sora’s blackened wrist, yanked his hand down to the hilt of the Keyblade, and wrapped those fingers around it. The change was immediate! The fingers of darkness on his face peeled back like the petals of a flower and the gold seeped out of his eye, showing the deep beautiful blue beneath. His mouth closed again and that sound stopped coming out. As if nothing had happened, he went back to his silence. 

Sora lifted the Keyblade into his lap, stretching it across his knees, and rested his free hand on it. Then, his farseeing gaze returned to some distant point. He stood silently up from the stone bench and wandered away. At his side, the Keyblade hung from his blackened clawed hand, dragging slightly over the cobblestones. Then, Sora vanished around the side of the castle and Riku sat silently on the bench for a while longer, staring after the strange prince. 

“What was that?” he whispered to himself.

…

Kairi crept out of her room, watchful and wary of Riku. If he caught her out and about after he had put her to bed, he would usher her right back to where he thought she belonged so she had to be careful lest he catch her. She couldn’t let Queen Minnie or King Mickey find her either because she wasn’t sure they would like her talking to the prince after what had happened with the glowing Keyblade and him kneeling at her feet and all. Silently, Kairi crept down the corridors of Disney Castle until she found her way outside into the courtyard. 

Outside, the sun was sinking below the horizon and the outmost walls, casting deep cool blue shadows across the plush springy grass. The sky was painted an array of colors on the distant horizon and, as the darkness spread up, the black emptiness of deep space wrapped around the world. 

Kairi imagined she could see the golden-amber glow of Traverse Town on one of the distant world-stars, but that was probably only her imagination because she also thought there was an empty spot where Hollow Bastion should have been. 

She shook herself, wrapped her arms around her bare shoulders as a chill settled in on her, and continued into the courtyard in search of Sora. It took her a long time to find him because he naturally blended in with the shadows. His face looked more stained than when she had last seen him in the garden and there was a thick vein of gold running through one blue eye. The Keyblade looked even bigger compared to him in the dark, dragging on the ground. 

“Hi Sora,” she said nervously.

Not that she needed to be nervous because he barely even looked at her. His eyes slid from some distant point on the horizon to her face, but not her eyes. It was as if he was looking at her throat or dangling earrings or something else.

“So, do you know what that was earlier?” she asked him. “You know, when your… Keyblade… started glowing?”

His cerulean eyes slid down, but she couldn’t be certain of exactly what he was looking at. It could have been the silvery hilts of the knives from Riku and Yuffie peeking from her cleavage or it could have been the swell of her breasts. 

“Sora?”

Slowly, he lifted his pale hand and Kairi saw the tendrils of darkness under his skin begin to shift and swirl as it came closer to her body. Silently, he placed his hand on her chest, just on the swell of her left breast, and her heart began to race. She wanted to push him away but that sick feeling was coming back over her. She felt as if Sora’s hand on her chest was the only thing holding her up. His hand made a slow path from her chest up her throat, over the side of her face, and finally came to rest on the crown of her head. All the while, Sora’s eyes never left her face.

Then, as abruptly as his touch has begun, it stopped.

Sora pulled his hand away from Kairi’s body and the darkness settled back in his skin. He lifted the Keyblade from the ground and Kairi felt a spike of fear take up root under her ribs as those jagged blood-stained teeth came towards her chest. Silently and without hurting her, Sora put the end of the Keyblade into the valley of Kairi’s breasts as if he was going to unlock her chest. As if his arm was suddenly too weak to support such a heavy-looking weapon, the Keyblade slid down Kairi’s body and crashed into the grass. 

Without making another move, Sora turned and walked away into the darkness of the deep shadow cast by the castle.

Kairi remained standing there, trembling, for a long while after that. She retraced the path Sora had made on her body—her heart, her head, her chest with that Key. What did it all mean? Even though she didn’t want Riku to know she had been out of her room or Queen Minnie to know that she had gotten another response out of Sora, she decided she had to tell them. She had to know what all this meant and she was going to need more perspectives to try to figure it out. She just had to know what was going on!

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	7. The Heavy Keyblade

Holy dialogue, Batman. There’s mad conversation in this chapter. It kind of takes over.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

The long glossy rosewood table in Disney Castle’s dining room was set with shining crystal and china, flowers and fresh fruits. Yes, the darkness hadn’t yet touched the reaches of Disney Castle. This place was strong and safe if not a little strange. King Mickey, Queen Minnie, and Riku were all having some dinner in the castle kitchens when Kairi walked in with her small hands clasped behind her back sheepishly and the knives peeking out from between her breasts.

Riku immediately gave her the fish eye with his bright no-nonsense green gaze and demanded, “What are you doing out of bed?”

After that comment, Minnie looked up and her motherly concern took over. “You were in bed, Kairi? Are you feeling alright?”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” Kairi said and forced a smile. “It’s just that I…” she hesitated. She didn’t want them to know she had actively sought Sora out. “I… I ran into Sora—”

Minnie’s fork fell from her hand with a clatter as her hands flew to her mouth, but she hurried to cover her shock. “Terribly sorry, Kairi. My fingers slipped,” she said with an equally forced smile.

Mickey glanced back and forth between the two women, clearly not buying either of their stories, but he gestured for Kairi to sit and continued, “And what happened then?”

Kairi chewed her lip and sat down beside the king. “Well, he…”

Minnie’s voice was small. “What did he do for you, Kairi? Just tell us…”

“He,” Kairi hesitated again because Riku had pinned her with his gaze. “He touched me.”

Minnie gasped and Riku’s eyes narrowed sharply. He scanned his princess’s body thoroughly, taking in the old wounds from when the Heartless had attacked her in traverse Town, but found no new wounds. He remembered Sora’s mouth full of teeth and his eyes golden and hateful. Despite what Riku had seen, it appeared Sora hadn’t hurt Kairi.

“He touched you?” Mickey repeated.

Kairi nodded. “He put his hand here, over my heart,” she said and gestured. “And then up to the crown of my head. Then,” she took a small breath, “he put his Keyblade to my chest, like he was going to unlock something inside me.”

“He didn’t hurt you?” Riku asked.

Minnie and Mickey both slid him a look and he shrank. Great job, Riku insult your hosts, why don’t you?

“No,” Kairi said and shook her head. “He walked away after that… just like nothing had happened.”

Minnie took a shuddering breath. 

“I’m sorry,” Kairi whispered.

Mickey pushed his plate away. “Well, Kairi, I’m not sure what it is, but there must be some sort of connection between you and Sora. Is it possible you’ve met before? Before he became…” the king glanced at the others at the table, “like he is now?”

Kairi shook her head. “I’ve lived in Hollow Bastion all my life.”

“You’ve never traveled between worlds?” Mickey asked.

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then it’s possible you’ve met Sora before. Tell me, where had you traveled?”

Minnie put her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “We don’t know where Sora even came from, dear, just let it go.”

Mickey let his breath out. “Alright.”

Kairi ventured. “I would have remembered him if I had seen him before. He’s so…”

Riku folded his arms grumpily. 

“He’s so beautiful,” Kairi said despite her head guard’s glare.

Minnie smiled softly. “I know you would have, Kairi, but I don’t think an old connection is what’s making Sora react this way. So far, all these reactions have had something to do with the Keyblade.”

Mickey sat up straight. “Yes,” he said. “First, the glowing and then he tried to unlock your chest with it. You must be connected to the Keyblade in some way, Kairi.”

Kairi held up her hands. “I don’t think so,” she said quickly.

“And the darkness in Sora responded to your touch!” Mickey continued, jumping up. “That’s it! It has to have something to do with the Keyblade!”

“Mickey,” Minnie tried to interrupt, but the king was a bit beyond stopping now. 

He grasped Kairi’s wrist, pulled her up from her chair, and grinned into her face. “Come with me, Kairi. I want to try something!”

“Wait!” Kairi and Riku protested in unison. 

But the king pulled her from her chair and towed her out of the dining room. Riku and Minnie exchanged a quick glance, gathered up their skirts and weapons respectively, and then dashed after King Mickey and Princess Kairi through the empty castle halls.

Outside, Mickey was dragging Kairi through the gardens, calling for Sora excitedly, but as usual the boy didn’t respond and the courtyard remained deserted. 

Two shadows skipped across the cobblestones, one long and thin, the other rather short and squat. Then, the duck and the… maybe-a-dog that Mickey had introduced them to when they first arrived at Disney Castle appeared around the corner, talking to each other busily though they clammed right up when they saw their king dashing around like a chicken with his head cut off.

“Gawrsh,” Goofy said. “What’s wrong King Mickey?”

“Yeah, what’s going on here?” Donald asked grumpily and scrutinized Riku closely.

Kairi finally got her wrist out of Mickey’s gloved grip, tripped on her skirt, and fell down on her ass in the thick grass. 

“Everything’s fine, Donald, Goofy,” Minnie called. “We’re just… having a little issue.”

Mickey dashed over to them. “You haven’t happened to see Sora, have you?”

Goofy shook his head, but Donald elbowed him harshly. “Yes we did, Goofy. We just ran into him up on the battlement walls when we were making our rounds.”

“Oh right,” Goofy said sheepishly. “Sometimes, I forget I see him because he never… well…”

Minnie looked saddened, but shook it off. “Well, would you be willing to go and fetch him for us?” she asked.

They nodded, turned, and their shadows skipped away, looking for all the world like the retreating number ten.

“Kairi, are you alright?” Riku asked as he crossed to where she was still sitting in the grass.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said.

He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. Kairi immediately set to work brushing out and smoothing her skirts, but since the war had made her care far less about her appearance, Riku assumed it was just to keep her hands busy while Mickey paced back and forth before a large box hedge. Minnie crossed to her husband with a sigh and whispered to him.

“So,” Riku began, “Sora touched you?”

Kairi sighed heavily. “Don’t do this now, Riku.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Act like a jealous moron.”

“I’m not,” he protested.

“You are,” she said flatly.

“I’m just concerned for my princess’s wellbeing,” Riku huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s a compliment, not a crime.”

Kairi sighed again. “Riku, you’re my best friend so please, don’t make me hit you.”

Riku wet his lips, staring off into the darkness. He imagined he saw Sora’s golden-blue eyes gleaming there beside the fountain, but shook his head and the mirage went away. “Kairi, there’s something you should know about Sora,” Riku began.

But the return of Donald and Goofy, leading Sora, interrupted him.

“Here’s the prince,” Donald reported. “He was just standing there, looking at the army.” Goofy nudged Sora in the back, guiding him forward until he was within arm’s reach of Riku and Kairi. The king and queen quickly joined the small gathering.

“Now, Mickey, what did you want to try?” Minnie asked.

“Something I never dared, but Kairi… will you try to take the Keyblade from him?”

Kairi’s eyes widened and she was about to protest when Riku locked his arms around her waist, shouting, “NO!” at the top of his lungs, and jerking his princess away from Sora.

“Riku!” Kairi yelped.

“What’s going on?” Mickey asked.

“Listen, earlier, I came out to talk to Sora and I took the Keyblade from him. That-that-that,” Riku struggled to find the right word, “that darkness inside him went insane! It started leaping all over him and his eyes went gold and his mouth filled up with teeth. If you take the Keyblade from him, he’ll become a Heartless!”

Donald and Goofy’s jaws dropped. 

Minnie and Mickey gasped.

Riku realized his error and started to apologize.

Kairi began to struggle from his grasp, shrieking.

Donald choked out. “The prince is becoming a Heartless?”

Goofy sputtered a string of nonsense.

Minnie lifted her hands, trying to explain.

Sora was the only one still expressionless and silent.

“Quiet!” Mickey ordered, effectily cutting off the cacophony of noise. “Stop it! All of you!” Even though his voice was small and mousey, it cut through the chatter and even echoed against the walls of the castle something fierce. 

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Now, let’s get all this straight,” Mickey began. “You,” he glowered at Riku, “tried to take the Keyblade from my son?”

Riku’s face flushed and his grip on Kairi tightened to the point of pain. She sensed his fear, but she wasn’t sure what he was afraid of. Truthfully, Riku wasn’t afraid for himself. He was afraid for Kairi. What if they were turned out of the only place that could hope to protect them because of his stupidity? He tried to save face. “I didn’t take it, per say, but I asked Sora if I could see his Keyblade and he just let me have it,” Riku explained to the king and queen. “It practically fell out of his hand.”

Minnie sighed.

“What happened then?” Mickey asked.

“Well,” Riku said and rubbed Kairi’s arms gently. “The darkness started going nuts and I thought… I thought he was going to kill me. He was looking at me like he just wanted to rip me apart. I tried to grab the Keyblade from where it had fallen on the ground, but it was…”

“It was what?” Mickey prompted when Riku didn’t continue.

“It was either too heavy for me to lift or stuck to the ground somehow. I couldn’t pick it up,” Riku said finally. 

Mickey’s eyes widened as he glanced from his small and slender adopted son to Riku’s strong muscular frame. “What do you mean you couldn’t pick it up?”

Riku flushed. “I just couldn’t. It was too heavy.”

“And then the darkness started to consume him?” Minnie asked in the stunned silence that followed.

Riku nodded. “Yeah, but the moment that Keyblade was back in his hands, it stopped and retreated.”

Minnie lowered her eyes. “It’s as I feared. The Keyblade is indeed taking the place of Sora’s heart. Without it, he’ll become a Heartless and with it, he’s only turning slowly. I had always harbored the small hope that if the Keyblade was ever out of his grasp, he would go back to normal, but that’s…” Her voice broke off in a heartbroken sob and the queen turned away.

“Gawrsh, Minnie,” Goofy said softly and patted her back. “It’s not as bad as all that.” He glanced back at Donald and King Mickey and whispered, “Is it?”

“I’m afraid it is,” Mickey said quietly. He glanced at his son. “There’s no hope for Sora.”

Kairi’s heart lurched in her chest. It was that pulling feeling again and she saw that Sora was looking at her, his eyes fixed on her face, and there was a thick thread of gold running through his right eye. “Sora,” she whispered.

As if drawn by a string, he took a step towards her and then stopped cold.

“Sora,” she said again. 

All eyes were on the fallen princess and the dark prince.

“Do you know what’s happening?”

Shockingly, his mouth opened faintly as if he was going to speak, but closed again smoothly without a sound. Sora’s eyes slid away over her shoulder and the moment was broken. He was the emotionless young man who had had his heart eaten again. Silently, he walked off into the shadows, heading back to whatever he had been doing before Donald and Goofy brought him down to this little gathering.

“He… he almost spoke…” Minnie whispered.

“Then, he’s not a mute?” Donald asked.

Mickey sighed. “Goofy, Donald, come with me please. I may as well tell you everything.” 

The guard and mage nodded.

“Minnie, are you coming?” the king asked when his wife didn’t immediately follow.

“Oh, yes, of course,” she sputtered and quickly followed him.

Riku and Kairi remained standing there in silence a moment longer. Riku’s hands were warm and rough on her bare shoulders and the twin knives between her breasts were cold. Finally, Kairi shivered at the difference and Riku said, “We’d better get you inside. It’s been a… a weird day.”

“It has,” she agreed.

They walked to her room together, arm in arm, as the often were these days. At the threshold, Kairi lingered, nervously tucking a strand of blood-colored hair behind her ear. “Riku, you… you really couldn’t lift the Keyblade?”

“Not an inch,” he confessed.

“Oh,” she murmured. 

“Well, goodnight,” Riku said and headed off for his own room.

“Goodnight,” she whispered. 

Kairi closed her door and leaned against it. So, if the Keyblade was acting as Sora’s heart and Riku couldn’t lift it… what did that mean? Was the Keyblade really like Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone, able to be used only by the chosen one? Or was it that Sora’s heart was simply too heavy to be lifted? In that case, what had Sora gone through in his short life to make his heart like that? Kairi pressed her small hand over her own racing aching heart. She wondered how heavy her own was. Would Riku be unable to lift her heart also?

**X:X:X**

Right? Holy dialogue, Batman! And a little bit of why the title is what it is. I’m kind of surprised at myself because the title doesn’t normally come into play until way later in my stories, but this one is positively jumping!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	8. The Attack in Disney Castle

Okay, everybody! Who’s ready for a challenge?

Without further ado and distraction… let’s save that for the end…

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

A sharp hard rap on the door woke Kairi Sinclair at a little past midnight. She rolled out of bed, went to the door, and pulled it open to reveal Sora, just standing there with his Keyblade hanging from his hand. His face was pale milk-white, threaded all with darkness and his eyes flashed with gold. Even so, she was not afraid of his presence outside her door this late when she was alone. She rubbed her eyes and asked them, “Is something wrong?”

He didn’t respond.

“Sora?”

The sharp rap came on her door again, even though it was open, and Sora hadn’t moved an inch. So, he hadn’t been the one to knock—maybe not even the first time that had roused Kairi from her sound sleep. Kairi’s heart began to race and pound, thundering against the cage of her ribs. The hair on the back of her neck stood up sharply and goose bumps ran across her bare flesh. She sensed a chill, sensed eyes on her, felt even the crawling of malicious intent.

Something… something was knocking…

Something was here!

She whirled, hand going to the knives she kept in the bodice of her dress even in sleep, and pulled one out a moment before the beast leaped on her. She saw a flash of bright gold eyes and then a glimpse of Sora’s black-and-white face as she crashed backwards to the floor. A cry was in her throat, but it was choked off when she felt the oily raking nails on her flesh, tearing through her cotton nightgown. It was a Heartless! Somehow, one had gotten in!

“Help me!” she whispered to Sora, slashing blindly with her knife. 

The Heartless’s black body blended in with the darkness and she could only just make out the lamp-like glow of its eyes so close to her face. She thrashed her knife wildly, found flesh, and slashed in as deep and hard as she could. Her hand even pulled out the second knife, Yuffie’s goodbye gift, and cut in with that too. An unearthly scream split the silence of the castle and freed Kairi’s own trapped cries. She screamed, voice bouncing and echoing and mingling with the cries of the Heartless as she slashed it.

She heard the crash of Riku’s body falling out of bed in surprise in his room down the hall.

The claws dug harder into her flesh, tearing into the side of her chest as if to get to her heart. Kairi wailed in agony and desperation. Her ribs were all that was between the Heartless and her vital organs now. The gown was hanging in tatters around her shoulders, exposing her heaving breasts as she struggled violently. With her twin knives, she stabbed deep into the Heartless’s exposed back, knives sliding on charred armor, but finding their mark of flesh regardless.

Sora was still just standing there with the Keyblade dangling from his twisted fingers. 

Down the hall, Riku exploded from his bedroom, shouting her name. 

“Riku,” she gasped out. “Here! I’m here!”

Riku charged down the hallway, without weapons and without a shirt, grabbed the Heartless if he could see it in the dark, and tore it off of his princess. He flung it as hard as he could, launching the creature. It skidded across the marble and Kairi saw a smear of dark blood on the white tile. She tightened her fingers around her knives and then felt Riku taking one from her hand. His hands felt so hot or was she just so cold?

Sora’s head turned, following the path of the creature, but he still didn’t make a move to step into the fray.

“Sora,” Kairi gasped as the Heartless rose up onto its legs and uttered a terrible sound.

His eyes shifted to her and she lifted a quavering finger.

“Please, stop it!” she begged him.

Sora’s gaze moved back.

Snarling, the creature leaped and Kairi saw it’s claws extend and reach out. The small knives she and Riku carried were useless against such a creature. They would both be slaughtered, but then Riku never even reflected in the creature’s eyes. Only Kairi would be killed and for that she was slightly grateful. She closed her eyes tightly, holding her breath. 

Then, several things happened at once.

Riku threw himself down over her, arms going around her tightly and making his body into a shield.

Kairi gasped, Sora’s name escaping her mouth like a cry in the echoing hallway.

The Heartless screamed in what sounded like triumph. 

Then, Sora moved quickly and suddenly.

There wasn’t much of a fight between Sora and the Heartless. He swung the Keyblade almost languidly and the jagged teeth went into the Heartless’s dark body. There was a small flash of light where the teeth of the key dug in and then a grinding sound like an unused lock twisting open. The Heartless screamed out in agony, a sound that went into Kairi’s bones, and there was a small pink-white flash of light. It was the same light the Keyblade had given off when Sora had knelt before Kairi just yesterday. The light formed into the shape of a small evanescent heart, pulsed once, and then both it and the Heartless were gone. Sora straightened up as if nothing had happened and stood there blindly, bloodied Keyblade hanging from his hand.

The sound of running feet echoed down the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Donald’s nasally voice rang out, sounding irritated despite clear concern.

“Gawrsh, is this blood on the floor?” Goofy asked.

Donald stopped beside Riku and Kairi’s hunkered forms and then glanced at Sora a little suspiciously. Despite the fact that Sora was their beloved prince, it seemed that finding out about his eaten heart and slowly-fading mind made Donald uncomfortable. Goofy, on the other hand, didn’t appear bothered in the least. He went over to Sora immediately and checked him out, asking him questions that Sora didn’t answer and then gently guiding him away from the blood-smeared floor.

“What happened?” Goofy asked and helped Riku and Kairi up as well. Sora lingered like a shadow at the guard’s shoulder as if part of the large shield Goofy carried. 

Was there more darkness in Sora’s face and more gold in his blue eyes or was that only Kairi’s imagination?

“A Heartless got into the castle somehow,” Riku panted. “It attacked Kairi.”

“What?” Donald shrieked.

Kairi gathered her tattered gown up over her breasts and shoulders as best she could, hiding the exposed flesh. “It’s true. I think… Sora must have known. He was standing outside my door when I heard a strange knock.” She gripped her knife tightly while Riku still held the other.

“A knock?” Goofy repeated.

“Yes.”

“Sora knocked?”

Kairi shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it might have been the Heartless.”

“Heartless don’t knock,” Donald snapped.

“I know that,” Kairi said coldly. “I don’t understand what happened.”

“What I don’t understand is why Sora wasn’t helping you!” Riku shouted. “He was just fucking standing there while that thing attacked you!”

“Riku, please—”

“No, Kairi! This is crazy!”

“What’s going on? Do you guys have any idea what time it is?” King Mickey demanded as he appeared at the mouth of the hallway with Minnie in tow. The king was disheveled, but it didn’t look like he had been sleeping. “Well, Donald? Goofy?”

“A Heartless got in,” Goofy said. “It attacked Kairi.”

“What?!” Mickey demanded.

“It’s true,” Riku said. “Look.” He gestured to the dark blood on both the knives, on the floor, and smeared on Kairi. “It got in somehow and attacked Kairi.”

Minnie gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

“Sora stopped it?” Mickey asked.

Riku opened his mouth to retort, but Kairi slid him a look and he grudgingly admitted, “Yes.”

Minnie eyed them both. “What happened?”

“Sora killed the Heartless,” Kairi said before Riku could speak.

“But was that all that happened?”

Kairi lowered her eyes. “No,” she confessed. “I thought he was going to let me die.”

“But he didn’t,” Mickey broke in.

“Dear, that’s not the point,” Minnie interrupted. “What do you mean?”

“While it was attacking me, he was just standing there, watching me. He didn’t make a move until Riku arrived and the Heartless was going to kill us both. Then, he killed it,” Kairi explained. She didn’t know why she felt so ashamed to admit that Sora wasn’t going to save them until the last moment.

“Oh,” Minnie said. Suddenly, the queen’s eyes widened. “What is that?” she asked.

Kairi glanced down at herself and gathered up the torn nightgown again, hiding the mark. “It’s nothing,” she told Minnie.

But Minnie was having none of that and even Riku’s bright green eyes were captivated by the hidden mark. The queen gently pulled Kairi’s hands down from the torn gown and then pulled the fabric lightly down so that it just covered Kairi’s nipple. 

“It almost looks like…” the queen began, fingertip tracing the mark.

“…a heart and a crown,” Riku finished.

Sure enough, that was what the mark looked like. The mark was vaguely heart-shaped with a smooth crown-like shape floating just above the heart. It was fragile, princess-like crown rather than the traditional velvet headpiece worn by the kings of old. Around it was a shivery little wisp of scarring that almost looked like reaching hands.

Mickey looked over his wife’s shoulder. “It’s almost reminiscent of a Claddagh (1),” he said.

Kairi tried to pull away. “It’s just a birthmark.”

“I don’t think so,” Mickey said. “Didn’t you say this is where Sora touched you?”

“It didn’t come from him,” Kairi protested. “I’ve had it since I was a baby.” 

They eyed her closely until she flushed.

“But lately it’s gotten a little darker, that’s all,” she said finally.

The king and queen weren’t listening to a word she was saying. Instead, they were facing each other and talking rather excitedly without paying any attention to anyone around them. Riku helped Kairi gather the torn gown up again and tied the torn strips of cotton into a messy knot to keep it there.

“I’ve seen that before, haven’t you?” Mickey asked Minnie.

“Yes. In that room beneath the castle. That mark is on the door!”

“What if she can open it?” 

“Or Sora? He seems connected to her somehow,” Minnie continued.

“We tried Sora,” Mickey said and put his fingers to his chin in thought.

“Maybe we need both of them,” Minnie suggested.

“Let’s try it!”

Then, Mickey grabbed a hold of Kairi and Minnie grabbed their adopted son by his good wrist the king and queen were halfway down the hallway before Riku even got the words out to protest. Donald and Goofy exchanged a quick glance and hurried after their royalty, just in case something bad came out of the door. Riku stared at the empty space around him for half-a-second and then hurried off after the others, barefoot and shirtless and unarmed. That was not a good way to go into any situation, but he didn’t care.

What on earth was going on with the world?

**X:X:X**

(1) A Claddagh is an actual thing. It’s an Irish symbol commonly found on a ring and depicts a heart with a crown and two hands reaching for the heart. It signifies love (the heart), friendship (the hands), and loyalty (the crown). Personally, I think it represents Kingdom Hearts very well.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	9. The Sudden Departure

I fussed and debated and moved this scene around a million times.

I originally had it like this, as Chapter Nine, but it’s so short that I put it in with the rest of Chapter Eight, but then it was just too much in Chapter Eight. So… It’s back on its own and it’s very short so you and I will both have to just deal with it.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

King Mickey Mouse and his queen, Minnie, towed Kairi and Sora down into the bowels of Disney Castle. Unlike Hollow Bastion, which had nothing but dark tunnels and earthen passageways beneath it, Disney Castle’s underbelly was all bright white marble and light. The walls were even neatly marked with arrows and directions so there was no hope of getting lost down here. The king and queen led the parade down several hallways marked ‘Unknown Door’ until they spilled out into a great white cavern of pink-white marble. It was the same pink-white as the light from the Keyblade and that momentary heart that had sprung out of the Heartless a moment before death. Directly before the gathering, there was a giant pink-white marble door with the same mark they had found above Kairi’s heart embossed in rich gold on the marble and just beneath it was a strange shape almost reminiscent of a Keyhole, also swirled and decorated with gold.

“This is it,” Minnie said breathlessly.

“You must have put this here,” Kairi interjected suspiciously.

“We didn’t,” King Mickey said.

“But—”

Sora’s out of focus cerulean-blue-gold-flecked eyes slid back into focus and onto the great door. Then, he pulled out of his mother’s grip, stepped forward, and lifted his Keyblade to the swirl of gold just beneath the heart-crown-hands Claddagh mark. 

Nothing happened.

He half turned, his eyes went into Kairi like a physical touch, and he held out his hand to her. She hesitated, but the king nudged her lightly and she stumbled forward. She slid her hands into Sora’s and his skin was rough and cold, sending a shiver through her. Sora turned back to the door and lifted the Keyblade again.

This time, a sort of beam of pink-white light went out from the tip of his Keyblade, into the swirling gold pattern, and the gold began to shift and change until it was distinctly a keyhole. There was that sound again, like when he had killed the Heartless, only now it was much louder. The grinding seemed to come from all around them.

Riku brandished the small knife he had taken from Kairi. 

Goofy and Donald lifted their own weapons, glancing around. 

Minnie and Mickey clasped each other’s hands and took a step back from the spectacle in front of them. 

And a spectacle it was. The Claddagh mark formed into a golden beam also and shot out from the door, racing straight for Kairi, but it didn’t hurt her. Instead, it met the mirrored mark on her chest and she felt that dizzying sensation of having her heart tugged again. Suddenly, Sora’s grip was the only thing holding her up. She could feel his strength and something else deep inside him—it was heavy, like a weight, pulling her down as well.

Abruptly, the grinding sound stopped. There was a bright flash of light that overwhelmed the entire door in the shape of a keyhole still and a blast of hot air that came from the depths of the world. Riku, Goofy, and Donald were pushed back, but not completely thrown off their feet. The king and queen, on the other hand, being only mice, were blasted back into the tunnels and completely out of the room.

“Sora! Kairi!” Minnie shouted, but the wind was too strong. They couldn’t get to their feet.

Suddenly, the wind stopped and the light vanished completely. 

Outside, there was a terrible cry of agony that rocked the entire world on its foundation.

Quickly, Mickey pulled his wife to her feet and the two of them dashed back into the ‘Unknown Door’ cavern. It was empty—completely empty—and the door was no longer even faintly golden. The small keyhole and Claddagh mark were now dull flat black. 

“W-where did they go? What h-happened?” Minnie whispered.

Mickey squeezed her hand. “I don’t know. I have no idea…”

**X:X:X**

Uh oh, what happened? Where’d they go? (I’m sure you all have a guess or maybe even know. I’m just kidding myself so you can feel free to just ignore me and click the nice little review button and use it to refer me to a psychiatrist. I’m nutty!)

Questions, comments, concerns?


	10. The Arrival to WHERE?

Nothing to report.

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

The five of them landed in an unceremonious heap with several gasps for breath and yelps of pain. Riku was heaped at the bottom, sprawled out on his face. Sora’s legs were thrown across Riku’s back, Keyblade digging into Riku’s side painfully. Kairi landed hard on top of Sora, one leg on either side of his waist, chest pressed to chest because Goofy had crashed down on top of her a moment later. Donald, being both a duck and the lightest, plopped down on top of Goofy’s head like some kind of bizarre Christmas tree topper.

“What the hell?” Riku grumbled out. “Can everyone get off of me? And where the hell are we?”

Groaning, Kairi heaved backwards so that Goofy and Donald tumbled down off her. “Which of those would you like answered first, Riku?”

He grunted in reply and tried to wriggle out from beneath her and Sora, but it was no use. 

Goofy helped Kairi up and then caught Sora under his arms, lifting the emotionless prince to his feet. Goofy was so nice, Kairi thought as she watched him brush Sora off and pick leaves from his wild hair, despite his strange appearance. She guessed that only drove home the old saying of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ (1) Riku heaved himself up and brushed something off of Kairi’s back. Then, she heard him take in a sharp breath.

“Where the hell are we?” Riku breathed out.

Kairi turned to see what he was looking at and her breath got lost somewhere in her mouth because she was looking up at the ceiling, but was very clearly seeing a kitchen table set with dishes, silverware, and glasses that was on the ceiling instead of the floor. All around the table were other kitchen appliances—a sink, a fireplace complete with bronze teapot, an icebox, and even a few pots and pans somehow hanging in the wrong direction. A sickening sense of confusion grabbed her in the stomach and threatened to make her ill. She doubled over, looking down at her feet and caught sight of a crystal chandelier hanging also the incorrect way off to her left.

“What’s wrong here?” she whispered.

Riku pulled her hair back from her face. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she gasped. “What is this place?”

“I have no idea.”

Donald produced a purple mage’s staff from somewhere within his blue robes and gestured a few things in the air as if making a map. A moment later, his face wrinkled with confusion and he muttered, “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t, Donald?” Goofy asked.

“According to my magic, we’re… we’re not in Disney Castle anymore.”

“Gawrsh. Where are we then?” 

Donald looked around. “I have no idea.”

Riku clasped Kairi’s hand. “Well, we can’t just stand…” he glanced around, hesitating, “…here,” he said finally. “I see a door over there. Let’s try to get to it and get out of here. This place makes me feel a little… nauseous.”

Donald nodded his agreement. 

Riku led Kairi ahead with Donald just behind them and Goofy a little behind. Kairi glanced back and saw that Sora hadn’t moved. She was about to stop Riku and turn back to grab him when Goofy noticed as well and turned back to gather the prince. 

Slowly, everyone made the trek across the bizarre room.

Finally, they reached the distant door and looked dubiously up at it. Upside down as the room was here, the doorknob was dauntingly far away. Riku gazed up at it, calculating the distance and whether or not he could possibly make it that far without crashing back down onto the… err… ceiling. That was going to take some getting used to.

“Donald, can you do anything with magic?”

The duck shook his head.

Riku eyed him. “How about flying then?”

Donald glared at him.

“Fine, fine. Kairi, give me that other knife of yours,” Riku said. Then, he had both the knives and began jabbing his way up the wall caveman-style. Finally, he reached the doorknob, turned it, made his way over to the frame, and heaved the door open. It opened far easier than expected and slammed backwards into the wall, nearly flattening Riku but not quite. He climbed his way back down and the five of them peeped through the open doorway. 

There was a long checkered hallway beyond it, blessedly right-side-up with its floor where it should be and the ceiling as well. Looking at the upside-down and right-side-up rooms was even more sickening. 

Kairi put her hand over her mouth. “Let’s go,” she said to the others.

Riku climbed through first and carefully passed the knives back so that Kairi could climb through afterwards. Donald was third, but Goofy hesitated, looking at Sora’s blank face. “Um, guys, how are we going to get Sora through?”

They all stared at Sora, startled.

“Well, can you bring him up with you?” Riku asked. “Tuck him under your shield?”

“I can try,” Goofy said. 

It wasn’t hard. Sora was like a doll, allowing himself to be shuffled and pulled onto Goofy’s back and secured there with the belt Riku passed him. Then, Goofy and Sora climbed through as well and they all left the backwards room behind them, but it wasn’t much of a comfort to make it through this weird hallway either. As they went deeper into this weird house—if it could be called that—the hallways started to changed strangely too. Some of the furniture was flat, as if painted into the walls, floor, or ceiling. It was like being in a painting or maybe in the strange American Winchester Mystery House.

“This is so bizarre,” Kairi whispered. Now that she had gotten over the confusing sensation of the ceiling being the floor, she was feeling much better and surprisingly happy to be seeing such strange things. “What is this place?”

“I have no idea,” Riku said as they walked. He was still barefoot and bare-chested and his belt was being used to secure Sora to Goofy’s back like a weird backpack. Over all, Riku fit right in with the weird décor and Kairi supposed, with her torn and tied dress, she did too. Behind them, Donald and Goofy followed closely.

“Do you think…” Kairi ventured after a while of walking through the hallway, “…that we could be in another world?”

“Don’t be silly,” Donald broke in. “What world have you heard of that looks anything like this?”

“No, but…” she cut her eyes to Donald an then Goofy, “I didn’t know Disney Castle was run by mice and ducks, either.”

Riku barked a laugh. “You have to admit. She has a point.”

Donald snorted, but didn’t say anything else. 

Another door was in sight. 

“Hopefully, this leads to the way out and not into another weird room,” Riku said. He grasped the knob, turned it, and pulled the door open. A gasp escaped him. “Now what is this?!” he demanded of no one in particular.

Kairi peeked around his naked shoulder and it seemed that this place was just getting weirder and weirder. 

Instead of a way out or even another room, there was a monstrous overgrown garden outside the threshold. There were giant mushrooms forming a canopy overhead, walls of multicolored flora, twisted vines, a thick mossy carpet, and a barely noticeable path through all that mess. Blue bells, giant red and yellow tulips, and even a smattering of white star-shaped flowers decorated the thick garden. Peeking through the dense foliage, Kairi could see the bases of giant trees.

“Well, we can go forward or we can go back,” Kairi said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really not feeling going through the upside-down room again. I vote forward.”

The others nodded, Goofy let Sora down from his back and passed Riku his belt back, Riku cinched up his pants, and they all shuffled out into the garden. The air was sweet with flowers and smelled thickly of earth. It really as a nice place once you got past all the weirdness like upside-down rooms and a hallway that opened up into a garden. What was next? They walked through the garden, following the path with difficultly, and finally came to a dark gap in the weeds. No matter how Riku squinted and shuffled, he couldn’t see through the opening. It was as if someone had hung up a curtain.

“Well?” he asked his companions.

Kairi nodded so Riku pushed into the darkness and Kairi followed quickly, both hands outstretched. Next came Goofy, leading Sora by the wrist, and finally Donald. Together, they stood at the mouth of the dark opening. Well, what was next was apparently… an outdoor courtroom? 

That was certainly what it looked like. 

There was a platform centered in front of a heart-shaped hedge with a small young girl in a blue dress standing there looking incredibly nervous. Then, there were men dressed as playing cards scattered throughout the clearing, each holding pointed spear. Finally, directly before the young girl’s platform, there was a large wooden bench with a large woman in a gaudy red and black and gold dress sitting behind it. She held a heart-shaped hammer reminiscent of a gavel and when she spotted them, she banged it down fiercely. 

“Who dares interrupt my court?” the large woman shouted. “Off with their heads!”

The girl’s bright blue eyes turned to them almost desperately and she wrung her hands.

Kairi stepped forward. “I am the Princess of Hollow Bastion, Kairi Sinclair. Please, where are we?”

The woman laughed almost meanly. “This is my domain, Wonderland!” she said sharply and spread her hands to encompass everything around them. “Now, what are you doing here, fallen princess?” She eyed Kairi’s bare shoulders and tattered bloodied nightgown. “Especially dressed like that?”

“Something happened. We have been transported here from Disney Castle somehow,” Kairi said. 

Riku dug his fingers into her back as if to say, ‘Stop talking!’

Kairi flapped her hand at him behind her back. “What are you doing, Queen of—”

“I am the Queen of Hearts! Call me anything else and it’s off with your head!” she shouted and banged down her gavel again. 

“I understand, Queen of Hearts. What are you doing, if I may ask?”

“Searching for the Princesses of Heart,” the queen said with a snort. “Unless I find them all, the darkness cannot be complete here in Wonderland. I want it all to be consumed.”

Kairi smothered her gasp and fought the urge to put her hand over the barely-concealed Claddagh mark above her heart. What if that was what her mark was a sign of? Being one of the Princesses from the transmission? “Why would you want that?” Kairi asked instead, fighting to keep her voice steady.

The Queen of Hearts grinned. “Because, fallen princess, I desire the power that the Heartless have.” She eyed Kairi closely for a moment and then turned her gaze away. “There are seven of them,” she continued. “No one knows where they are, but if they can be found and destroyed, then nothing can stop the darkness from taking over the worlds. Recently, there was a flux in the Heartless of my world and I have reason to believe that means there is a princess here somewhere.”

Kairi wet her lips. “How will you be able to tell when you have one of these princesses, Queen of Hearts?”

The queen’s eyes flashed to Kairi’s bare shoulders again. “They are marked,” she said, “Marked with the image of a heart, a crown, and reaching hands just above their hearts.”

Kairi’s heart thundered and she begged Riku not to jump to her defense. If she could just keep the queen talking, keep getting information out of her, then they might have something. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side today and hadn’t been for a long time, but it wasn’t Riku who broke their cover. It was Sora, but it wasn’t entirely his fault either.

From the clear blue sky, a Heartless swooped down. It looked something like a bird with wide black wings and dangerous talons that reached to pluck Kairi up like a fish. They had never seen a flying Heartless before and that must have been how one got into Disney Castle, past the raging river. Stunned, they all stared at this new creature until it was too late. The talons dug into Kairi’s shoulders, tearing through her flesh and into her bones. Then, with an animalistic bird-like cry, the Heartless swooped back into the sky.

“Kairi! No!” Riku shouted.

Goofy whirled, jerking down his shield. He planned to throw it in an attempt to knock Kairi free of the creature, but Sora was standing too close to him. The shield slammed into the prince’s head and Sora stumbled into the Queen of Hearts’ view.

“The Keybearer,” she gasped out.

Sora’s blank eyes went to the sky, to Kairi’s stolen form, and that was it. One minute, he was standing there with his Keyblade, looking up. The next, he was gone. 

A small army of Heartless poured in through the heart-shaped hedge.

“Off with their heads!” the Queen of Hearts shouted.

**X:X:X**

(1) Cliché, but fits many situations.

I could’ve kept going, but then this chapter would’ve been mad long!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	11. Wonderland & Looking-Glass Land

And I’d like to thank xanimexvampx11x for being my only good reviewer. Thank you for reviewing each and every chapter! You really keep me going! Everyone else… shame on you!

**X:Wonderland:X**

“Kairi!” Riku shouted and cut through one Heartless with the small knife he had gotten from Kairi. Hopefully she still had the other one and would be able to cut herself free. If not… he didn’t want to think about it, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

Donald was making a series of strange noises as he cut through several Heartless with ice magic.

“Gawrsh! Sora!” Goofy shouted, brandishing his shield against one small Heartless. “Come back!”

Sora was gone? Riku glanced over his shoulder and, sure enough, the prince was gone without a trace. Where the hell had he gone? Just when they needed him the most, too! Riku cursed and struggled to slash down through some heavy armor. 

“Where is he?” Riku shouted to Goofy.

“He took off after Kairi. I have no idea how he did it.”

“After Kairi?” Riku glanced skyward to where Kairi was a dot way up in the sky. Was Sora up there with her or was she doomed? Claws sank into Riku’s side and he swore again, slashing wildly with the little knife. Jesus, he needed a better knife and soon or he would be no help to Kairi at all! “Kairi!” he shouted again. 

But, there was no answer except from the Queen of Hearts as she cackled. “The Keybearer is here. Then that girl must be one of the Princesses! This is just my lucky day!” she laughed again. “But of course, who better to gather the Princesses of Heart than the Queen of Hearts?”

…

Kairi struggled in the grip of this flying Heartless, but each movement she made only rent apart her shoulders. That and there was a dizzying drop from the Heartless’s clutches to the ground below, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to let this Heartless have her no matter the price. Even if it cost her life, she couldn’t let the darkness be released on all the remaining worlds. She pulled the knife Riku had given her from between her breasts and slashed at the Heartless’s feet. It shrieked and dug in harder, but didn’t release her.

“Let me go!” Kairi shouted. “Let me go!” 

This time, she trust the knife up into the body of the Heartless and felt a jet of hot blood on her face, foul and bitter. Then, the grip on her was gone and she dropped like a stone, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she fell. Well, was this it? The end of Kairi Sinclair? She heard Riku shout her name, but didn’t think he would be able to save her. From way up there, her friends had looked like ants. 

Something flew past her. Another Heartless? 

She had her eyes closed still. 

A cold arm enfolded around her bare shoulders and she felt that tearing in her chest again, like her heart was being pulled out. No doubt about it. This was Sora. But how had be gotten up here in the sky with her? Had a Heartless grabbed him too? Now they were both doomed and with them the worlds.

Kairi put her arms around Sora, shocked by how thin he was, and held on tightly as they plummeted to their doom. She peeked between her lashes and there was the ground, rushing up eagerly to meet them, and she closed her eyes again. But they never smashed into the ground. Instead, there was a slight jerk the instant before they landed and Sora was set lightly on his feet. It was as if the hand of God had set them down gently. 

“Kairi!” Riku shouted and dove to cover her as one Heartless lunged for her. 

Before he could kill it though, Sora already did. Within seconds, though they had been close to overwhelmed, Sora had obliterated the Heartless forces and they could all hear the Queen of Hearts swearing in the silence that followed. 

“Gawrsh, Kairi,” Goofy said. “That was some fall. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

The girl on the platform rushed over to them, grabbed Kairi’s skirts, and looked desperately up at her. Kairi saw then that she was really quite young, eleven or twelve at most, younger even than Yuffie in Traverse Town. “Please, please, help me!” the child begged. She was very pretty with a sweet open face, big blue eyes, and fair blonde hair. “I don’t know what’s going on! I’m not a princess! My daddy is a cobbler!”

Kairi hugged the child close and then knelt to be at her level. “Can I look at something? Right here?” She pressed her fingertip to the mirrored place where her own Claddagh mark was. 

The little girl nodded and Kairi gently peeled down the fabric of the little girl’s dress. The flesh above her heart was bare and unblemished. She wasn’t a Princess, but now Kairi knew she herself was one. (1)

“It’s okay,” Kairi whispered to the little girl. “We’ll get you home safely, okay?” 

“Off! With! Their! Heads!” the Queen of Hearts shrieked, banging her gavel multiple times. 

The card men stared fearfully at Sora, glanced at each other, and dashed off through the yawning mouth that led into the garden. Apparently, playing cards were faint of heart, which wasn’t very surprising because they were all diamonds, clubs, and spades. (2)

The Queen of Hearts shouted a little more, but since no one was responding, she clammed up and tried to recover her regal air. “Don’t worry, silly creatures. Someone else will catch you. Even if it’s not me, someone will capture the Princesses of Heart and the Keybearer.” Then, she barked a hollow laugh.

The little girl pulled on Kairi’s hand tightly. “I know where to go,” she whispered. “This way.” 

Kairi caught Goofy’s wrist and angled her eyes at the now-unmoving Sora. Goofy understood immediately and hooked the prince by his elbow, towing him towards Kairi. Apparently Goofy hadn’t understood as well as Kairi had thought because he handed Sora off to her and went to help Donald up. Thankfully, the little girl had no trouble taking Sora’s hand as well, even though h was frightening sight with the darkness on his skin. Living in this world, the girl must have been used to strange and scary sights.

“This way,” she repeated over the queen’s hard voice. “Follow me.”

“Riku,” Kairi called. 

Her best friend swept Donald and Goofy towards her. Then, the little girl, still clutching Sora and Kairi’s hands, led them from the Queen of Hearts’ outdoor court, beneath the heart-shaped hedge, and through a bright silver opening that reflected their exhausted images back at them. This mirror-like opening, happily, opened up on something rather normal. It was a large grassy field with a single large oak and they had all just stepped through the dark hole in its center. Nearby, there was a small village and a woman was drawing up water from a well.

“This is Looking-Glass Land (3) and I live in that little town, in the place with the red roof,” the little girl said sweetly. “I’m Alice. Who are you?”

“Well,” Kairi began. “My name is Kairi Sinclair. I’m a princess.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “Are you the one the mean queen was looking for?”

Kairi chewed her lip and confessed, “In a way…”

“Oh,” was all Alice said in response and turned to look up at Sora as she led them through the prairie grass. “Who are you, weird quiet guy? That’s a pretty big key. What does it unlock and why is it so dirty?”

“This is Sora,” Kairi explained. “The key unlocks…” She didn’t want to tell a little girl that he use it to kill monsters, but Alice was already ahead of Kairi.

“He’s the one from the transmission from Kingdom Hearts, isn’t he? And so are you?”

“Well—”

Alice gasped. “Are you the people who vanished from Kingdom Hearts when all the monsters came out?”

“No,” Kairi jumped in before Alice could continue. “We came from Disney Castle.”

Alice beamed. “I heard Disney Castle is magic and that the king and queen are mice. Is it true?”

Kairi smiled. “It is.”

Alice turned to look at Donald and Goofy. “You guys are funny. You’re a duck, but what are you?”

“Gawrsh,” was all Goofy said in answer to that question.

Riku sighed heavily and Kairi slid him a glare. Alice was only a child. She was just curious and full of questions and nervous energy from being questioned by the mean Queen of Hearts. (Though Kairi would have loved to know what exactly Goofy was also.)

“So, Alice, where do you live?” Kairi asked.

Alice’s face fell. “In the place for children with no parents anymore.”

Kairi’s heart broke. “You mean, the orphanage?”

Alice nodded. “Yeah…”

“Then your parents are…?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. 

Kairi gently squeezed the little girl’s hand. “I’m sorry, Alice.”

“It was those monsters the mean queen likes. She just lets them into Wonderland and they make everything… crazy.”

“Crazy?”

Alice freed her hand from Kairi’s grip and pointed off into the distance. There, like the lid of an opened can, another small village was completely upside down, the underbelly of the earth to the sky and puffs of dark smoke coming out of the gaping hole. Alice took Kairi’s hand again.

“They make the world… not as it should be,” Alice said softly.

“And the Queen of Hearts likes the darkness?” Kairi asked.

Alice nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know why though,” she said. “I don’t like them.” 

“I don’t either,” Kairi said softly.

They were on the earthen streets of the small village now and were becoming quiet the center of a attention. Kairi wondered what they must have looked like—a band of gypsy peddlers maybe? Or even assassins? Gamblers down on their luck? Riku was shirtless and barefoot, streaked with sweat and dark Heartless blood. Kairi’s tattered nightgown was falling down her shoulders, exposing the tops of her breasts so she looked like a harlot, and there was her own bright blood all over her. Sora was a spectacle in himself with beautiful face, gold-flecked blue eyes, darkened skin, and his long Keyblade dragging behind him. Donald was a duck and Goofy was… well…

Alice brought them to the orphanage, the building with the red roof, pushed open the doors, and led them into the gloom. “You should talk to Miss Mary Ann (4),” Alice said. “She takes care of all of us and she knows a lot of stuff about the darkness. It was nice to meet you and thanks for bringing me back… home…” Alice’s face was sad again, but she covered it quickly and skipped off into the recesses of the orphanage.

“What now?” Donald asked when a young girl not much older than Kairi came out of one of the bedrooms with her arms full of white sheets. She looked a little overrun so Kairi quickly rushed to help her, taking some of the sheets. 

“Thank you so much!” the young woman said and then laid eyes on all of them. “Oh, who are you?”

“We, uh, just brought Alice home. I’m Kairi Sinclair.”

“Pleasure,” the young woman said. “Mary Ann Warbucks (5). Was Alice any trouble?”

“Not at all, but the Queen of Hearts thought she might have been a Princess of Heart,” Kairi explained.

Mary Ann gasped and dropped all the sheets. Riku came to gather them up, but Mary Ann shooed him away. “No, no, just leave it,” she told him. “I’ve never seen your faces before! How did you get here?”

“Um, we’re not entirely sure,” Kairi said softly.

Mary Ann looked at the others and her eyes fell on Sora and his key. “The Keybearer,” she gasped. “This way, all of you, hurry! Hurry!” Then, she ushered them all into a small office, pulled the curtains, and lit a single candle. Through the flickering light, she looked at them closely. “You all are not from around here, are you?”

“No,” Kairi confessed. “We were at Disney Castle and something… happened.”

“What?”

“Well, this sort of Keyhole appeared, everything started grinding, and then there was this really bright light. The next thing we knew, we were here,” Kairi told her. 

Mary Ann put her fingers to her mouth. “You locked the world,” she whispered and let out a sigh of relief.

“What does that mean?” Kairi asked.

Mary Ann looked perplexed. “You don’t know? But it must be about you.”

Kairi shook her head. “We don’t know anything.”

“Oh,” Mary Ann said and looked from face to face. “I think I should tell you. You remember the transmission from Kingdom Hearts?”

“Of course.”

“Well, there was more to it, but somehow, only Wonderland got it. The Queen of Hearts won’t allow anyone to spread it around.” Mary Ann glanced at the shuttered window and took a deep breath. “Basically, the transmission went in to explain that the Heartless could be stopped by the Seven Princesses of Heart and that these girls would be marked by the insignia of a heart-crown-and-hands. These girls, with the help of the Keybearer, would be able to contain and stop the Heartless.”

“How?” Kairi breathed.

Mary Ann shook her head. “I don’t know. No one knows. Maybe another world got that part of the transmission the same way Wonderland got that part.”

“You said something about locking the worlds. What does that mean,” Riku interjected.

“The Keybearer, if he has a Princess of Heart with him, and is lucky enough to find the heart of the world will be able to reveal a keyhole and lock the world,” Mary Ann explained. “If the world is locked, all the Heartless are expunged and the world will never be destroyed because the heart of it is safe.” She sighed heavily and traced her finger on the worn desk. “I wish our world could be locked, but the keyhole is right under the queen. She would never allow that to happen.”

Kairi looked sharply at Riku.

“No,” he said firmly.

Ignoring him, Kairi turned back to Mary Ann. “The keyhole is under the queen you said?”

Mary Ann nodded. “Yes, it’s under her court platform,” she told them. “She made my father build it and then killed him, but he told me where it is in case the Keybearer ever came.” Her eyes fell on Sora with a sort of reverence.

“Riku—”

“No, Kairi. It’s dangerous. You heard her.”

“I don’t care. We have Sora and it’s our responsibility to save the worlds.”

“No,” Riku said. “It’s the Keybearer’s responsibility to save the worlds. You are a Princess of Heart. You have to… stay out of the way.”

“But a Princess is needed to lock the world. That makes it my responsibility, too.” Kairi grabbed Sora’s hand and tugged him towards the door, determinedly shoving Riku aside.

“Wait!” Mary Ann called out.

“See, Kairi, listen to reason. This is foolish.”

Mary Ann came to stand beside Kairi, smiling. “Well, dressed like that it is. It’s silly for all of you. Let me help.”

“What?!” Riku demanded, but no one was listening to him anymore except maybe Sora and that didn’t really matter anyway. “This is foolish! This is stupid! Hello! We shouldn’t even be here. We should be back in Disney Castle. We should be trying to find a ship so we can get back! Hello, is anyone listening to me at all? This is ridiculous!”

**X:X:X**

(1) Yes, I know Alice is a Princess of Heart in the game, but it’s always bothered me because she’s not even close to a princess. Not. Even. Close. And I don’t think her heart is very pure because she acts like a brat in the movies. So… I’m changing it because I can and I’m not telling you who’s going to take her place. Nyah nyah!

(2) Okay, no more card jokes. I promise…

(3) Looking-Glass Land is where the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland takes place. It is a mirrored version of Wonderland.

(4) Fun fact: Mary Ann is the White Rabbit’s maid who Alice is mistaken for in the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

(5) Remember Little Orphan Annie, everyone? And the man who adopts her, Oliver Warbucks? No more puns, I promise.

And I’d like to thank xanimexvampx11x for being my only good reviewer. Thank you for reviewing each and every chapter which I post everyday! You really keep me going! Everyone else… shame on you! You are pathetic excuses for readers!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	12. Arguments Among Friends

Nada.

**X:Looking-Glass:X:Land:X**

“This is not ridiculous,” Riku said and admired himself in the mirror. Mary Ann had all sorts of armor and weapons squirreled away beneath the orphanage from back when the orphanage used to be a school for fighting. She had dragged a lot of stuff out of the crawlspace and spread it around the small room and had just finished helping Riku buckle on strong but light leather gear. She had even outfitted him with a real sword and a bow with a few arrows.

Mary Ann brushed off her knees. “I’m glad you approve,” she said and let Goofy help her to her feet. “How about you Kairi?”

Kairi was also happy to be out of her tattered nightgown and not have to worry about holding it up over her breasts anymore. Mary Ann had gotten Kairi set up with soft calfskin breaches, heavy boots, a light white blouse, and a sturdy leather vest. She had wanted Kairi to try chainmail as armor, but it was just too heavy. Kairi put her two small knives into her waist pouch, shouldered a quiver of arrows and a light bow, and thanked Mary Ann again.

“Please,” Mary Ann said, brushing her off. “If you can lock our world, I will be so grateful.”

“We’ll do our best,” Kairi said and clasped the young woman’s hands lightly.

“I thank you,” Mary Ann said. “And Alice thanks you.”

“Send her our goodbyes,” Kairi said.

“You won’t be back?”

“When we locked Disney Castle, we were spirited away to here. I think it will be the same case.”

“Oh,” Mary Ann said softly. “In that case, I hope to merely see you again.” She squeezed Kairi’s fingers, lowered her head, and whispered in a voice that was almost a prayer. “I wish you luck and safely, Princess Kairi of Heart and Hollow Bastion. Please, return to us safely and may all the creatures of the universe protect and defend you from the forces of darkness.”

Kairi’s heart pulled again, but it was just an ache, not the dizzying agony she was used to associating with Sora’s presence. “Thank you, Mary Ann,” she said. Then, she followed the others out of the orphanage and they headed back to the mirrored mouth of the tree in the prairie.

**X:Wonderland:X**

They had been gone from Wonderland maybe an hour, but the Queen of Hearts’ outdoor courtroom had changed drastically in that time. It seemed that the Heartless’s presence could make things go strange very quickly in this world, probably because the queen wanted it that way. The throne behind the judge’s bench was empty of the queen. The card men and Heartless alike were also absent. Where had they gone? Kairi almost would have preferred an army be waiting for them than not know the location of their enemies.

Goofy pushed Sora up beside him and brought his shield down form over his shoulder. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know,” Riku said and unsheathed his new sword.

Donald took out his wand. “Let’s just do what we’re here for,” he said firmly.

Kairi nodded, took Sora’s hand, and pulled forward towards the platform where the Queen of Hearts had been lounging earlier while she searched for Princesses of Heart. He dragged his feet, eyes fixed on the platform though it appeared as if he was looking through it. Could he see the keyhole, maybe?

“Sora?” Kairi whispered. “Can you see it?”

As she had expected, he didn’t respond.

Riku came up beside them and glared at the platform. “How the hell are we supposed to get to the keyhole beneath this thing?” he growled. “It’ll take hours to dismantle it and it’s too well-made to just hack it apart.”

“I can levitate it, but not for very long,” Donald offered. “Sora and Kairi will have to be quick.”

“Hopefully this will take us back to Disney castle,” Riku growled and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Okay,” Donald said and made a few passes with his staff. “Here goes!”

Slowly but surely, the entire platform lifted from the ground with a shuddering sound. Beneath it, just like in Disney Castle, there was a slab of pink-white marble embossed with the Claddagh symbol and a swirling keyhole on the ground. Since Kairi was already holding Sora’s hand, he simply lifted the Keyblade and the beam shot out and formed the massive keyhole in blinding light. Kairi clung to his hand tightly, feeling as if she was going to be blown away. There was so much darkness in Wonderland and it was clinging on desperately.

She heard Goofy give a shout behind her, but didn’t catch what he said. Riku gave a deep battle yell and the platform began to dip and descend towards the ground. 

Kairi tore her eyes away and looked back at their companions.

It was the Queen of Hearts! She was attacking them!

“Sora!” Kairi said desperately, but her voice was drowned out by the grinding of the lock as if closed.

“My world! My perfect world! Ruined, ruined!” the Queen of Hearts screamed. “I’ll get you for this! I’ll destroy you all!”

Then, there was a blast of hot air and light. The platform slammed down and the queen was left standing in a perfect maze of high green hedges. Her court was gone and everything the darkness had made wrong was back to normal. Viciously, she swore. Somewhere, there was the howl of the Heartless being thrown away and the final click of the lock as it closed fully. Both Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land were safe now.

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

“Damn it!” Riku swore. “Where are we now?” He had hoped this would return them to Disney Castle, but it seemed not. The new surroundings were completely unfamiliar, but at least the landing had been better if not a little less dog-pile and a little more spread out. “What kind of weird place is this?”

Kairi pulled Sora to his feet and brushed herself off. “Well, look at it this way, Riku.”

“What way?”

“At least we’re not walking on the ceiling.”

Donald and Goofy laughed, but Riku didn’t think it was very funny.

“There are also buildings,” Kairi pointed out. 

“I see that, Kairi. Thank you. I’m not blind,” Riku said flatly. “But none of those things answer my question.”

“Which was?”

“Where are we?!” he shouted, voice bouncing off the surrounding buildings. 

They were in a sort of old-fashioned kingdom that Kairi had only ever pictured for fairytales and songs. Above them, a beautiful white castle keep with countless flying turrets and fluttering flags stood proudly against the dark green-and-purple sky. Kairi couldn’t see anything, but she could hear the Heartless beating at the gates of the outer wall, but they weren’t very loud—not yet at least. 

“Let’s get a better look,” Kairi suggested at the same time Riku said, “We should be able to find a gummi-ship here.”

Kairi folded her arms. “I think we need to lock this world, too, Riku.”

Her friend made an exasperated sound. “Kairi, you and Sora are both important. It’s stupid go running around and deliberately putting your noses into danger. I think we need to get back to Disney Castle as soon as possible. We know it’s safe there.”

“And I think it’s our duty to help as many people as we can,” she protested.

“We need a ship!”

“Um, guys, why don’t we split up?” Goofy suggested. “I’ll take Sora and Kairi to look around for the keyhole and Donald can go with Riku to get a ship.”

“I’m not going back to Disney Castle. These keyholes are sending us to these worlds for a reason,” Kairi protested. 

“Kairi,” Riku groaned. “Come on. Listen to yourself—”

“Listen to yourself,” she countered. “Stop being selfish!” 

“I’m not! I’m being smart. This is stupid. If we keep putting ourselves in danger, someone is going to get hurt.”

“Maybe you should have stayed in Traverse Town,” Kairi shouted at Riku. The moment the words were out of her mouth and Riku looked as if she had slapped him, she regretted her words. “Riku, please, I’m sorry.”

“Whatever,” he snapped and turned away. “Go with Goofy and Sora then and look for the keyhole. I’m going to find a ship.” Then, coldly, he walked away.

Goofy tipped his head at Donald and the mage quickly followed after Riku.

Kairi pressed her hands to her mouth. “I’m so stupid.”

“Why is that?”

“I just hurt my only friend,” she whispered.

“Oh, gawrsh, I’m sure he’ll forgive you, Kairi,” Goofy said.

“You think so?”

He nodded.

Kairi sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Then, I guess we should go look for the keyhole. It sooner we lock this world, the sooner we can move on. And hopefully we’ll be done by the time Riku finds a gummi-ship.”

Goofy nodded, caught Sora’s elbow, and led the way through the cobbled streets.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	13. Enchanted Dominion: Pt I

It seems that once again I fooled no one! Everyone who guessed which world they were in said either Sleeping Beauty (Enchanted Dominion) or Cinderella (Castle of Dreams). How do I always give it away? What on earth am I doing wrong? Clearly, I’d be a bad spy. I can fool no one…

**X:Enchanted:X:Dominian:X**

Princess Aurora Briar-Rose leaned out over the edge of her balcony. From there, she could just see the valley of black thorns and the bright yellow eyes of the army of Heartless outside her gates. It was worse than she had thought. The poisonous thorns were keeping them back, but there were just too many of them. Why were there suddenly so many Heartless? Where had they come from? On the horizon, looming like a boil, was Maleficent’s jagged black castle keep. The ugly evil place… Were the Heartless pouring out of her open gates? Aurora bit her lip and was about to cry for her owl friend when her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Well, Aurora, how is it?” her father, King Stefan, called up to her.

“Bad,” she called back down. “Tell Mother.” Then, Aurora gathered up her skirts in one hand, put one hand over her crown to keep it on her head, and raced back down the narrow broken hallway to where her father was waiting for her.

“Well?” he asked again, as if maybe the news would have changed and become better.

Aurora panted. “We have to do something. There’s more of them now! It looks as if your world will be overrun.”

“Should we sent out word to Disney Castle and Traverse Town? Would it be best to just leave?”

Aurora wrung her fingers. “I don’t know, Father. Maybe you should ask Mother.” 

Queen Leah was a strong take-charge kind of woman. Aurora’s father was a nice man, but a little useless in a crisis so the queen and her daughter had taken control of most of the kingdom’s events and defenses. Occasionally, Stefan was needed just as a figurehead to assure the people that everything was indeed alright. Male chauvinist pigs! Sexist bastards! That’s what the Enchanted Dominion’s people were, but Aurora would show them just how capable their princess and queen were!

As she had expected, when she gave her father this latest bad news, he froze and stared at her with his mouth open. 

“Father!” she said, exasperated. “This is no time to panic!”

“My dear, it is in fact the perfect time to panic.” The unknown voice sent a chill racing down Aurora’s spine and she half-turned before something slammed into her sidelong. The small knife she carried in the leather belt over her gown slipped from its sheath and skittered across the marble floor to rest at the feet of an unknown woman. 

“Who are you?” Aurora demanded.

“You don’t need to know that,” the woman hissed. She was white-pale with a pretty sort of dignified face and her night-black hair twisted up into something resembling horns. She wore a tattered robe of black and purple and green and there was a dark crow perched on her shoulder. In her hand, she carried a long bronze staff topped with a large glowing green orb. “But I know who you are, Princess of Heart.” She lifted that staff and pressed it to the exposed flesh above the bodice of her gown, pressed the cold point of it to the birthmark Aurora had there that resembled a heart, a crown, and reaching hands. “Come with me,” the woman hissed.

“No!” Aurora shouted. She put her fingers into the bright golden eyes of the attacking Heartless and scrambled away when it screamed in agony.

“Get her!” the strange woman shouted as Aurora grabbed her father’s hand and dragged him from the hall at a run. The Heartless let out a howl of agony and bitterness, but Aurora heard the clanking of it’s awful armor as it gave chase after her. “Don’t let her get away!”

“Aurora!” Stefan panted.

“Don’t look back,” she told her father. “Just keep running!”

She tore down hallway after hallway, threw open a secret passage behind a painting of the castle fifty years ago, shoved her father in, and slammed it closed again. Then, she tore her crown from her head, flung it down the right direction of the hallway and ran to the left. Hopefully, the Heartless were as stupid as they looked. Aurora put her back to the cold wall and tried to gasp for breath quietly through her nose. The woman and the Heartless had reached the fork of the hallway and had spotted her crown.

“Go left,” the woman hissed to the creature. “I’ll take the right.”

Aurora bit her lip. At least there was only one monster for her to face. She pressed her fingers to the mark above her heart. Why did it suddenly hurt so much? Why did her heart feel like it was being yanked on by some invisible hand? Was it from running? But she ran all the time.

The Heartless began to clatter its way down the hall in her direction and Aurora silently walked to keep ahead of it, hoping it couldn’t hear the beating of her heart. Finally, she reached the foyer of the palace and there should be guards stationed just outside the great doors. They would dispatch the Heartless for her and she would be safe… except for that strange woman… Aurora went to the doors, laid her hand on the knobs, and her heart throbbed in agony. She slid to her knees, panting and whimpering.

The Heartless came into the room behind her, gave a cry of triumph, and raced towards her, shrieking. This was it, Aurora realized. Her life was over—the Heartless was going to kill her and she was having a heart attack. “Sorry, Mother,” she whispered.

Then, the door behind her pushed open and a small female voice called, “Hello? Is anyone home?”

The pain in Aurora’s heart grew stronger and she let out a gasp of pain. 

The doors slammed all the way open and the strangest trio of people came to Aurora’s rescue. The first was a young girl with flame-red hair and outfitted in leather breaches and carrying a bow over her shoulder. Beside her, holding her hand, was a young man with dark bruises smattered most of his face and a large key dangling from his blackened hand. Behind them was a… a dog walking on two legs and carrying a shield… maybe?

“Sora!” the girl shouted and shoved the boy forward. “A Heartless! Get it!”

The boy’s eyes slid as if disconnected from the rest of him and he swung the giant key lazily at the charging Heartless. There wasn’t a drop of fear on his face or in his eyes. In one move, the Heartless was dead and then gone. 

The young woman rushed to Aurora’s side, knelt, and asked, “Are you hurt? Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Aurora gasped. “I’m okay. It’s just… my heart.”

“Your heart?”

“It hurts… It feels like something is,” Aurora cried out, “pulling on it.”

“Sora,” the girl said firmly. 

The boy didn’t respond.

“Goofy, can you grab him, please?”

The dog or whatever caught the youth by his elbow and towed him over. The girl grabbed his hand, pulled him down beside her, and his out-of-focus eyes slid to Aurora as if seeing her for the first time. They were bright sky-blue, but flecked with ugly gold. The pain in her heart spiked and then lowered as his hand reached out and laid over her heart and breast. If anyone else had touched her like that, Aurora would have punched them in the face, but something stayed her hand. The pain reduced until it was almost completely gone. There was only a faint tugging sensation deep inside her chest.

“W-what did he do? Who are you people?” Aurora asked as the girl helped her to her feet.

“I’m Kairi Sinclair, Fallen Princess of Hollow Bastion and, err, a Princess of Heart.”

“Princess of Heart? That’s what that woman said.” Aurora’s blue eyes narrowed sharply. “Are you with her?”

Kairi shook her head. “No, my friends and I are from Disney Castle.”

“Disney Castle? Did my father send out a call for aid?”

“Um, no. This is the Keybearer, Sora,” Kairi explained quickly. “We accidentally locked Disney Castle and when we locked Wonderland, it spit us out here. Could you tell us where we are?”

“You’re from another world? Wow,” Aurora said and tucked some golden blonde hair behind her ear. “This is Enchanted Dominion. I am Princess Aurora Briar-Rose.”

“Pleasure,” Kairi said softly. “This is Goofy. You haven’t happened to see a duck and a young man with silver hair, have you?”

Aurora’s eyes widened. “A duck?”

Kairi scratched her head. “Well, yeah. Disney Castle is a little… eccentric.”

“Sorry. I haven’t. It was very nice to meet you, but I have to go. The Heartless are at our gates. I need to talk to my mother,” Aurora said. “You’re welcome to come with me. In fact, please do.”

Kairi nodded, grabbed Sora’s hand, waved to Goofy, and then they followed Aurora into the depths of the white castle.

The strange woman peered around the corner of the hall. “Hmm, two Princesses of Heart and the Keybearer? If I leave these people to it, they might gather all the necessary pawns for me.” She chuckled, sank back into the shadows, and was gone.

…

“Well, where should we look for a gummi-ship?” Riku asked Donald. Unlike Kairi, Sora, and Goofy, who had gone into the center of this new place in search of the keyhole, Riku and Donald were headed for the outer wall both to see what the Heartless situation was and to find Riku’s much-desired ship.

“I don’t know,” Donald said grumpily. “This is your idea. I think we should have stayed with Sora and Kairi. Sora is our prince.”

“Yeah, all the more reason to get back to Disney Castle.”

“Sora is the Keybearer,” Donald continued. “He needs to save the world and because of the way he is, he needs someone to go with him. Apparently, that someone is a Princess of Heart and since Kairi is one, she may as well go with him.”

Riku groaned. “Please, don’t side with her. She’s difficult enough to manage and protect.”

“She’s a princess. She doesn’t need to be managed. She manages everyone else,” Donald said firmly. 

“What about Sora?” Riku countered. “He needs to be managed.”

“That’s different.”

“How so?”

“Sora has no heart,” Donald said flatly.

Riku really didn’t have an argument for that so he changed the subject. “I still think it would be best for us to go back to Disney Castle. Mary Ann said that once a world is locked, all the Heartless are expunged and the world can’t be destroyed. It’ll be safe.”

“She said they’d be expunged, but she didn’t say they’d stay expunged. There’s nothing to stop them from coming back,” Donald said flatly. 

Riku hadn’t thought of that. “But—”

“And just because the world can’t be destroyed doesn’t mean it can’t be overrun. All we could be doing right now is creating havens where the Heartless could breed.”

“But—”

“If we ever want to be really safe, the Heartless will have to be destroyed completely.”

“But—”

“Riku, Sora has to lock the worlds and go on to fight the darkness. He’s the Keybearer and that’s his job. Since he can’t do it alone, Goofy and I will go with him. Ultimately, it will be Kairi’s choice if she wants to go with Sora and us, not yours. And if she does want to go and you still don’t, then I think it would be best if you returned to Disney Castle. We don’t need someone dragging their feet and protesting the whole way. This journey is going to be hard enough.” 

Riku stopped dead, but Donald continued walking, his webbed feet slap-slapping on the cobblestones. Well, how about that? Riku had just been told off by a duck. He didn’t think he had ever felt smaller in his life and it wasn’t a very pleasant feeling.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	14. Enchanted Dominion: Pt II

I like this chapter greatly. Not sure why…

**X:Enchanted:X:Dominion:X**

Princess Aurora led Kairi, Sora, and Goofy through the maze of passageways. She stopped to pull back a massive painting, revealed a secret passage, and collected her hysterical father before continuing on into the center of the castle keep. “Mother,” she called and pushed open a heavy wooden door. A cold breeze blasted into them, nearly pushing them backwards, but aurora struggled on forward until she had allowed the door to slam shut behind her.

The reason for the cold and wind was clear. Aurora had brought them to the highest tower spire of the castle and all the windows here were broken out. Cold screaming wind was sweeping up, carrying with it the cries of the Heartless and battle below. Aurora’s mother, Queen Leah, was standing at one of the shattered windows, her wheat-blonde hair blown stiffly back. She was even forced to keep one hand on her crown lest it blow clean off her head.

“Mother,” Aurora said again.

The queen turned to face them and her face was lined with concern. “Aurora, how is it?”

“It doesn’t look good. One even got into the castle somehow and attacked me.”

Leah gasped. “Are you hurt?” she asked and quickly grasped Aurora by her shoulders. She brushed Aurora’s golden hair back from her face and turned her head this way and that in search of injuries.

“No,” Aurora said with a small laugh and pulled her mother’s hands down. “These people saved me. Mother, this is Sora, the Keybearer, and Kairi Sinclair, a Princess of Heart.”

“Princess of Heart?” the good queen repeated.

“Yes,” Aurora nodded. “Oh! Along with the Heartless, there as a strange woman in the castle. She insisted that I was a Princess of Heart, but I managed to escape her. I’m not sure where she is now.”

“You’re a Princess of Heart?” Kairi interjected, eyes widening.

Aurora shook her head. “I think the woman was crazy. She insisted that because of this mark—” she gestured to the Claddagh over her breast, exposed by the low neck of her gown, and Kairi cut her off with a gasp. 

“You are!” Kairi said firmly and quickly. “You’re one of the seven Princesses from the transmission.”

Aurora folded her arms over her breasts and the mark. “How would you know that?”

Kairi pulled down the top of her blouse and leather vest to reveal her own mark. “I have one too, just like yours.”

Aurora took a step back. “Coincidence,” she began.

“They look exactly the same and are in the exact same place. And that woman said you were one as well. That’s too much to all be coincidence,” Kairi said.

Aurora turned to her mother. “Do you believe this?”

Leah’s face was thoughtful. “I heard the transmission. It did say something about the Princesses of Heart, but I don’t know…”

“This is the truth,” Kairi broke in and pulled Sora forward. “This is the Keybearer.”

“What’s wrong with his face?” Aurora asked.

“He has a skin condition,” Goofy interjected because it looked as if Kairi was going to tell them the whole truth and nothing but.

“Really?” Aurora repeated. Her brow lifted and it was clear she didn’t believe a word.

Goofy feared a moment that Kairi was going to spill everything, but the girl was nothing if not clever. “Yes. It’s very rare and it’s brought on by the amount of darkness around him,” she lied deftly. 

“And the fact that he doesn’t speak or respond to anything you say? What about that?” Aurora asked.

“He’s deaf and mute,” Kairi lied again.

“And what did he do to my heart when he touched me?”

“He’s the Keybearer and you’re a Princess of Heart.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Of course it does. The same thing happened to me.”

Leah looked back and forth between the two princesses, stunned. It appeared that they were going to go on like this forever so the queen broke in. “Girls, girls, please, we can work all this out later, but Aurora I need you to head to the wall now and see if you can do anything. Call some of your animal friends or something. Anything!”

“Yes, Mother,” Aurora relented and slid Kairi a look. She picked a small curved blade from the array laying out on the table and slid it into the empty sheath at her hip.

“We’ll go with her,” Kairi broke in. “I’m an archer. I can be of help and Goofy is King Mickey’s head guard at Disney Castle.”

“Very well. Stefan, you will stay here with me,” Leah said. Unspoken—and out of the way! “Go ahead, Aurora. Everything will be fine.”

“This way,” Aurora said and guided them back through the maze that was the castle. The heaved open a secret door in the side of the staircase, lit a small lamp, ushered everyone beneath the stairs, and then closed the secret panel. “This place is nothing but secret passages built before the war. This one leads under the city and out to the wall. Follow me and stay close or you’ll get lost for sure,” the princess ordered them, gathered her skirts in one hand, and led the way through the darkness.

…

Donald and Riku heard the screaming long before the wall came into sight. Then, because countless archers and warriors were rushing through the open gates that led up the steep staircase to the crest of the wall, they easily followed. Riku had to bend his knee so Donald could jump up and look over the wall, but the duck was thankfully light and Riku could hold him easily. He notched and arrow in the bow Mary Ann had given him and let it fly deftly through the web of thorns outside the walls.

“Look at them all,” Donald remarked and waved his staff. A long stream of ice raced out, freezing at least twenty Heartless in their tracks. A sheaf of fire followed, demolishing the Heartless behind the wall of their frozen companions. “I don’t know if this little place can hold.”

“Hopefully Kairi found the keyhole and locked it.”

“I thought you didn’t want her to do that.” It wasn’t an accusation, just a statement.

“Yeah, well…” Riku flushed and loosed another arrow to hide his embarrassment. 

“Hey, who are you guys? I’ve never seen your faces here before,” a man snapped at them. He was wearing a red hat and a red cloak. Actually, he was wearing a lot of red and even carried a quiver of red-fletched arrows. (1) “Where are you from?”

“Disney Castle,” Donald said without hesitation. “King Mickey sent us.”

“We did not send for any aid,” the red-clad man said grouchily. You’d think a man whose home was under attack would be grateful for any and all help, but it seemed he was rather unhappy about getting any help at all. 

“I know. He just sends out scouts to be certain the worlds haven’t been destroyed without anyone noticing.”

Riku had to hand it to Donald. He could certainly think on his feet.

“Oh,” the man forced out. “Well, carry on then.”

“Thank you.” 

Riku also had to hand it to Donald. He could deal with imperious morons very well, too.

“That was brilliant,” Riku said to Donald who was still perched on his bent knee. 

“That was nothing,” Donald said and waved his staff again. This time, the sky overhead darkened momentarily and there was a booming crash. All around, spires of bright lightning exploded into the army of Heartless below. “That, on the other hand, was something,” the duck relented and gasped for breath. (2)

The archer beside Riku gave them an appreciative grin. “That was great. You really pushed them back.”

“Thanks,” Riku said because Donald was still breathing hard. Suddenly, he heard a strange dry fluttering noise and a lot of Heartless shrieking suddenly and looked quickly back down at the battlefield. “Oh hell,” he swore. “Fuck!”

…

Aurora shouldered open the end of the tunnel and bright light streamed in. Blinded momentarily, Kairi lifted her hand to shield her face and let go of Sora’s hand. Beside her, Sora’s head lifted and tilted as if hearing something no one else could. He reached out and pushed Aurora aside almost gently, but also quickly, and stepped out onto the hectic battlement.

Something dark swooped past his face.

His blue-gold eyes tracked the movement. Then, he lifted the Keyblade high over his head, pulled his arm back, and sent it flying. The Keyblade slammed into the flying Heartless’s right wing and the creature fell with a shriek. The Keyblade, as if alive, circled in the air and returned to Sora’s open hand.

“Remarkable,” Aurora breathed.

Another Heartless swooped down overhead, claws extended straight for Sora’s exposed back, and Sora had flung the Keyblade again. He was completely unarmed and helpless. A warning was caught in Kairi’s throat, but she knew he wouldn’t have responded anyway. Before Kairi could move, Goofy threw himself into the fray, shield lifted and the Heartless bounced off it like a insects, screaming. The Keyblade returned to Sora and he cut through that Heartless at close-range.

Kairi rushed out into the battle as well, brandishing her small knives from Riku and Yuffie. Extensions of your arm, she reminded herself and tightened her grip around the cold hilts. A moment later, Aurora was at her side, holding her curved dagger low and to the left. Kairi slid her an inquisitive glance, but Aurora only smiled warmly as if to say, ‘Okay, I believe you now.’

“Kairi!” Riku’s voice broke through and a moment later Donald’s shrieking and flapping filled the air with a flurry of white feathers. Had Riku thrown him? Kairi dropped her knives hastily and opened her arms to catch the flailing duck. 

That crisis averted, Kairi peered about over the heads around her, holding Donald tightly. “Riku! Where are you?”

“Here!” He pushed through and was beside her a moment later. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Kairi gasped and put Donald down. “Sora’s protecting us.”

“I see that. He certainly is a force to be reckoned with,” Riku agreed.

Another Heartless swooped down overhead and Aurora cut it down with a small battle yell. Kairi glanced over her shoulder at the other princess and saw that Aurora’s gentle and neat demeanor had drastically changed. The princess had slit the side of her deep blue skirt to the hip so that the edges frayed hideously and Aurora’s long white legs were free to move about outside the constraints of the material. The black bodice of her dress was hugging the swell of her breasts and had slid down a little farther as if threatening to drop completely. The Claddagh mark on her chest was clearly visible, shining faintly even. Her golden hair was a wild halo around her head, no crown in sight. But most surprising was the large brown owl that had come to circle above her head, calling and hooting. Was that giant bird fighting alongside her?

“Who’s that?” Riku asked, awe in his voice. 

“Princess Aurora,” Kairi said and elbowed him. 

Kairi grabbed her two knives and went to join Aurora again. Donald and Goofy were quite a force to be reckoned with, but Sora was a completely different animal now. He was knocking the Heartless out of the sky like flies, dashing them to pieces, and the black on his face was pulsing wildly. Threads of gold wound through his one eye almost completely now, but half of his face was still perfect and for that Kairi was grateful. A moment later, drool wiped off his chin, Riku began launching arrows into the sky. 

The battle didn’t last very long.

…

“Damn! Damn! Double damn!” Maleficent swore, cursing at the gleaming orb on her staff that revealed to her through the Heartless’s eyes a view of the battle at the white castle. In her own dark castle beyond the valley of black thorns, the Heartless spawned and bred in the darkest shadows, but she felt them watching her. They were always watching her and sometimes she felt like they wanted to eat even her heart, but just hadn’t yet. 

The Keybearer was much stronger than she had thought, though his appearance and attitude were both strange. Those buffoons traveling with him, the duck and the shield-wielding dog, were even stronger than she had expected, but that was because she had expected very little of two animals. 

That said nothing for the strength of the two Princesses of Heart and the other silver-haired boy. True, Princess Aurora Briar-Rose had always been a talented warrior, but she had been forced into that by her father’s uselessness and her mother’s feminism. Now, alongside the Keybearer, she was even stronger. The other red-haired princess was fighting with less success than Aurora, but she was still taking out a fair number of Heartless. The silver-haired boy was a bit less a warrior than the duck, the dog, and the Keybearer, but he was holding his own rather well and with a great amount of style. 

The silver-haired boy… maybe he could be of use to Maleficent…

**X:X:X**

(1) Recognize the cameo? He looks like Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. I think he’s such a useless guy. He does practically nothing in the movie except give Aurora a kiss to wake her up. The fairies are the ones who spring him and help him fight and all that jazz. (But it’s not Prince Phillip. I have him in store for later.)

(2) Is it just me or does the thunder attack look a lot like lightning? Maybe something got lost in translation.

Will Riku betray his buddies to the darkness again? Am I that evil?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	15. Enchanted Dominion: Pt III

I was playing Kingdom Hearts again earlier today and I forgot just how funny it was!

**X:Enchanted:X:Dominion:X**

With all the swooping flying Heartless vanquished, the warriors sucked in some well-deserved air. All around them, cries of triumph rose in a cacophony and the Heartless below were forced to retreat back into the black forest of thorns by the rain of arrows that chased them. Aurora’s owl hooted overhead, swooped down over the battlefield, and then rejoined the group on the battlement. The red-clad man marched across the stone battlement, eyeing everyone closely.

“Jeez, Kairi,” Riku said and eyed the torn shoulder of her blouse. “Let me take a look at that.” 

“It’s just a scratch,” she protested and pulled her arm from his grasp.

“Are you okay, Donald?” Goofy asked and set down his heavy shield.

“Just a little tired. The magic really taxed me,” Donald said. “What about the prince?”

Goofy glanced at Sora. 

The young man was covered in dark Heartless blood, but appeared otherwise unhurt. His right eye was completely golden now and flecked lightly with blue, the darkness swirled across the right side of his face, even threading across his lower lip, and had spread a thorny necklace across his collarbones.

“Gawrsh. Well, he looks okay,” Goofy murmured.

Aurora fixed her golden hair back with both hands, pulled a leather armguard from somewhere on her person, strapped it over her forearm, and lifted her arm so the owl overhead could perch there. Gratefully, the owl came to rest on her arm and hooted softly. The bird nuzzled at Aurora’s cheek and she stroked its glossy brown feathers lightly. “Thank you, precious,” she cooed to the bird.

“Did you… call that bird?” Kairi asked the other princess.

“Yes,” Aurora said with a smile. “Phillip is one of my closest friends and allies.” Her face darkened. “I wish I could marry him instead of Peter.” (1)

“You called for me, Princess Aurora?” the snooty red-clad man appeared almost out of nowhere and put his arm around her shoulders. 

“No, I did not,” Aurora said and slithered from beneath his arm. “I simply mentioned your name in passing. If you’ll excuse me?” 

Then, she caught Kairi by the elbow and Kairi nabbed Goofy who grabbed Sora’s wrist and the Keyblade hooked around Donald’s ankle so they made a sort of bizarre train and Aurora bundled them all off into the passage back to the castle. Riku, having avoided boarding said train, shouldered the opening shut behind them right in Peter’s face. The six of them plus one owl headed back to the castle and Aurora brought them to her mother’s cold turret watchtower.

“Well, sweetie, how was it?” Leah asked when they arrived.

King Stefan was sitting in a chair with his head between his knees, looking ashen and grey.

Aurora gave her father’s head a pat. “Crisis averted, Father,” she told him and then smiled at her mother. “We beat them back easily thanks to the Keybearer.”

“Really?” Leah asked and scanned them over. “I see you called Phillip. Was he much help?”

Aurora pet the bird’s feathers. “Of course. Far more help than Peter,” she sneered.

“Aurora,” Leah chastised. “Do try to be nice to him. He is your future husband.”

Aurora huffed, “Sexist society,” and continued stroking her bird.

“Anyway,” Leah said with a small sigh. “What’s the front like?”

“Oh,” Aurora said quickly and started up. “The Heartless are starting to… I don’t know how to explain it… evolve.”

“Evolve?” Leah repeated.

“Yes,” her daughter nodded. “They sprouted wings so they could fly up over the thorns and the wall.”

Leah rubbed her face with her hands. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. There doesn’t seem to be much hope anymore.” 

Aurora shooed Phillip off her arm and went to embrace her mother tightly. 

Stefan put his head between his legs again—crisis not averted. 

“What are we going to do?” Leah whispered to Aurora.

“With all due respect, your highnesses,” Riku broke in. “We have the Keybearer and two Princesses of Heart here. If we can find the keyhole and lock this world, you’ll be safe from the Heartless… at least, for a little while,” he added with a glance at Donald.

“The keyhole?” Leah repeated at the same moment Aurora asked, “What keyhole? Like to a door?”

Riku nodded and gave Kairi a nudge. “You tell them.”

“Uh, okay,” Kairi muttered. “Thanks Riku.” She turned to Sora, grasped his hand, and pulled him forward. “According to our friend, Mary Ann, when the Keybearer is accompanied by a Princess of Heart, he had the ability to lock away the heart of the world safely where the Heartless can’t get to it.”

“You mean, the world can’t be destroyed?” Aurora interjected and lifted her arm for Phillip to land.

“Exactly,” Kairi agreed. “So far, we’ve locked Disney Castle and Wonderland, but we happened upon those keyholes quite by accident. We have no idea how to go about actually looking for the keyholes or even quite how we seal them. It just kind of happens and then we get spit out in another world.”

Aurora put her fingers to her lips. “The heart of the world…? Is it hard to get to?”

“I’m not sure,” Kairi confessed. “Disney Castle’s keyhole was beneath the castle and very hard to get to, but Wonderland’s was practically right out in the open.”

“Well, if it was in the Black Castle, I think the Heartless would have consumed it by now so it must be in this castle somewhere,” Leah said thoughtfully. 

“The Black Castle?” Riku interjected. 

“Yes. It’s the witch Maleficent’s castle,” Leah explained. “She used to be a good person, but her heart was eaten by the darkness and she’s become leader of the Heartless army here.”

“Leader of the Heartless?”

Aurora snapped her fingers. “That’s who that strange woman was. It was Maleficent!”

“Really dear?”

“She’s leading the Heartless? How is that possible? Shouldn’t the y have devoured her heart?” Riku interrupted.

Kairi put her hand on his shoulder. “Down boy.”

“Yes,” Leah nodded. “You would think that and I’m sure they will eventually, but right now the Heartless are following her orders and allowing her to live. It’s probably because of her strong magic. It is very useful to them.”

Kairi chewed her lip. “We need to find the keyhole.”

“I’ll help you look,” Aurora said. “It’s probably in a secret passage somewhere. This castle is full of them.”

“Thank you, Aurora,” Kairi said with a smile.

Aurora shooed Phillip, telling him to go outside and keep watch over the battlefront. Then, she whispered something to the owl that sounded suspiciously like, ‘Poop on Peter’s head,’ but Kairi could have heard her wrong. With one last cry, the owl took off out the broken window and was borne away on the chilling wind.

…

Their footsteps echoed on the white marble walls, mixed with the slap-slap of Donald’s webbed feet and the dragging of Sora’s Keyblade. The arrows in Kairi’s quiver jostled and rattled. Goofy’s shield kept sliding down his back and he pulled it back up with a huff every few moments. Overall, it was a strange orchestra of sounds.

“Should we split up?” Riku asked as they walked through the hallowed halls of the white castle.

“Nah,” Donald said. “Either way, we need Sora. It’s best just to stay together.”

“Besides,” Aurora put in. “I wouldn’t want you guys to go and get lost. This place is massive and incredibly confusing if you don’t know where you’re going. My father’s lived here all his life and he still gets lost sometimes.”

“Your father seems a little…”

Kairi elbowed Riku sharply and he yelped.

Aurora chuckled. “I know. I love my dad, but he’s a little—no, a lot—useless in a crisis.”

For several hours, they chatted and wandered the castle in search of the keyhole, but they found no trace of it even in the castle’s most dusty and disused passages. Outside, deep black night had fallen. Finally, Aurora stopped and leaned on the wall.

“This is hopeless,” she said dejectedly. “Either that or it’s not here. Is it possible that my world doesn’t have a keyhole?”

“This world has a heart so it has to have a keyhole,” Kairi said firmly.

“But where is it?” Aurora murmured.

Riku wet his lips, hating himself for saying this because he wanted Kairi to stay out of danger and go back to Disney Castle and this was quite the opposite. “Do you think it could be in the…?” he hesitated, but his foot was already in his mouth now and there was no taking it back. “Do you think it could be in Maleficent’s Black Castle?”

**X:X:X**

(1) Nyah. Prince Phillip is a bird and the red-clad man, Peter, is just a nasty original character. Take that, superficial expected plot!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	16. Through the Valley of Black Thorns

We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz! Lalalalala!

**X:Enchanted:X:Dominion:X**

Aurora’s blue eyes widened and she pushed her hair back out of her face. “Well, it’s not like we can just waltz in there and check. That place is crawling with Heartless and Maleficent’s there too,” she said doubtfully. “It’s dangerous. We’d probably all just be killed.”

Kairi squeezed Sora’s fingers. “Luckily for us, we have the Keybearer,” she said to Aurora with a smile.

“I don’t know, Kairi,” Aurora said and fingered the low neck of her bodice. “I know he’s strong and all, but still… I don’t think it’s safe. I mean, you and I are important and especially him. What happens to the world if something happens to us?”

“We really don’t have the luxury of thinking like that,” she said softly with a shake of her head. “The tools to save the world have been put into our hands. We can’t just do nothing and stay where it’s safe.”

Aurora touched the exposed Claddagh mark on her breast. “I didn’t ask for this,” she whispered. 

“Neither did I.”

“Why me? I’m not special.”

Riku put his hand on Aurora’s bare shoulder. “Apparently you are. Don’t worry, Princess, we’ll all be with you.”

She smile faintly at Riku. “Okay,” she said finally. “We’re going to have to go through the passage of thorns. There used to be a passage connecting the two castles, but once the Heartless attacked, it was sealed off for protection.”

“Aren’t those thorns poisonous?” Donald interrupted.

“Gawrsh!”

“Yes, but I can give you all and anti-toxin just in case you get scratched,” Aurora said. “The thorns are one of our best defenses against the Heartless, but they’ve gotten better at making it through without getting cut.” She waved for them to follow her and led the way back to her mother’s tower room. 

Queen Leah was against the venture the moment the words were out of aurora’s mouth, but there was something to be said for the strength and determination of that young woman. Aurora took out a bottle of clear yellowish fluid while she spoke with her mother and went around making small cuts on everyone’s forearms so she could dab the anti-toxin into their blood. By the time she had finished, Queen Leah had begrudgingly agreed to them going through the thorns and to the Black Castle in search of the keyhole.

Leah hugged Aurora tightly and whispered, “You be careful, baby.”

“I will, Mother.”

Leah stroked Aurora’s golden hair back from her face, biting her lip to keep the tears from rolling down her face. Then, she didn’t say another word. She only took her dagger from her waist, handed it to Aurora, and squeezed her daughter’s fingers tightly around the jeweled hilt.

“I’ll be back, Mother.”

Leah nodded and turned away. It was clear she didn’t expect to see her daughter back alive.

Kairi passed Sora’s hand off to Goofy and touched Aurora’s elbow. “You can stay, you know. Only one of us needs to go. I’ll go,” she offered.

Aurora shook her head. “No. I’m coming too.” Then, she made a long shallow cut on her arm, dabbed in the anti-toxin, put her mother’s dagger under her belt, and nodded to Kairi. “Let’s go,” she said firmly. Then, she left the room and didn’t look back, but Kairi heard her mother let out a heartbroken sob.

“She’ll come back,” Kairi whispered, but she didn’t think anyone heard her.

Goofy passed Sora’s hand to her and Kairi squeezed his fingers tightly. As expected, the young man didn’t respond.

…

The darkness outside was as thick as soup and Kairi wondered if maybe they should wait until the sun came up, but Aurora said as if reading her mind, “We never come out at night. Maleficent wont’ expect us to show up now. This is actually the safest time for us to head out.”

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” Riku asked.

Aurora nodded. “Almost. I forgot to tie my hair back.”

Riku chuckled and then winced as a branch of thorns scraped across his face. “Man, I can see why these things are such a defense,” he grumbled and Kairi helped him pick the branch out of his tangled hair. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. They’re vicious. Be careful.”

And everyone was, except Sora that is. Kairi kept trying to guide him through the path of least thorny resistance, but he just plowed on forward without a care in the world for the daggers lashing into his skin. Finally, Kairi passed him to Goofy and he kept Sora under his shield where the thorns couldn’t bite into him. Kairi took to pulling branches of thorns out of the way for poor Donald who was leaving a trail of white feathers behind them. 

The six of them plowed through the thorns well into the night until the Black Castle came into view. It was an ugly thing, perched high up on a jagged broken cliff and looking as if it had been made out of the pieces of the cliff that had fallen away. The sky here was bruised, mottled with black and purple and green. Bright ugly lightning forked down from the ugly sky, lighting up the ugly castle and the valley of thorns below the jagged cliff.

Riku whistled to cover his fear. “Wow. How do we get up there?”

“This end of the secret passage should still be in working order,” Aurora said and struggled aside a thick branch. “We only blocked it off under our castle and through our city. If it’s blocked, we’re going to have to climb up and go in through the front door.”

“Uh, well, let’s hope the passage is open,” Riku said with a nervous laugh.

Aurora glanced at him. “Yeah, let’s…”

“Uh, Sora, what’s wrong?” Goofy’s voice was low and nervous. 

Immediately, Kairi turned to see what had happened. Sora had pulled away from beneath Goofy’s shield and Goofy was hanging onto the boy by his Keyblade tightly. Even so, Sora looked as if he wanted to get away from Goofy in the most dire way. His white face was turned up to the sky, seeing something, but Kairi wasn’t sure what.

“Sora?” she called out.

He let go of his Keyblade and it slammed to the ground, dragging Goofy down with a yelp of surprise. Then, Sora started to walk away, face still lifted to the sky.

“No!” Riku shouted.

Kairi saw the change begin to take over Sora. His mouth split up on the right side, reaching up to his ear with a mouthful of jagged teeth, and his one golden eye blazed like a lantern. The darkness was threading up through is hair now, staining it black and his white flesh was going inky as well.

“No!” Kairi shouted and ran to Goofy. She grabbed the Keyblade with both hands and heaved, but the thing must have weighed a thousand pounds. Either that or it was stuck to the ground.

All around them, growing up out of the darkness, the golden eyes of the Heartless began to appear. Aurora drew her mother’s dagger and let out a great loud cry that was reminiscent of an owl’s hoot. Riku drew the sword Mary Ann had given him, Donald raised his staff, and Goofy lifted his shield. Kairi didn’t draw anything. Once Goofy’s hands left the Keyblade, it exploded up into her hands as if on a spring. It was still agonizingly heavy though and Kairi was forced to drag it, but drag it she did. She raced after Sora through the thorns, shouting his name.

Sora was standing in a clearing, his face lifted to the moon high in the sky. The pale light played on his darkening face, caught in his glowing eyes. The blue of his left eye was bright, glowing, and the yellow of his right was even brighter. It was overpowering.

“Sora!” Kairi shouted.

She heard the sounds of battle go up behind her and, overhead, an owl swoop low, crying out.

“Sora!”

She dragged the Keyblade closer to him until she could reach out and touch him, until she could see the sweat on his skin, until the darkness beneath his flesh began to swirl at her proximity.

“Sora! Take your Keyblade! Take it!”

His blue eye slid to her while the golden one remained heavenward. Both side of his face had split with an ugly maw of sharp teeth. He held out his hand, fingers growing dark and twisted with claws, and Kairi grabbed it since the Keyblade was too heavy for her to lift. “Please, let this work,” she whispered more to herself than to anyone else.

There was a flash of light, something grabbed Kairi’s heart deep in her chest, tore painfully, and she heard a scream that may or may not have been her own. Then, everything was gone in darkness.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	17. The Strange Place & the Keyblade

Wow, such an epic response to the last chapter. Take a breath everyone!

**X:The:X:Strange:X:Place:X**

Kairi’s head exploded against the base of a palm tree and her hands groped uselessly through white sand as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Groaning, she put her hand to the back of her head and checked her palm for blood. Nothing, she was alright.

But where was Sora? 

What had happened for that matter? 

Where was she?

“Riku! Sora!” she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. He voice echoed over the vast ocean and bounced back emptily. “Aurora! Donald! Goofy! Riku! Sora!” Each name came back to her without an answer or response. “Anyone?” she whispered. “Sora?”

But there was no answer save the zsash-zsash of the sea.

Kairi gathered herself up and crawled to her feet. Her head spun from the blow it had taken and she stopped to collect all the arrows that had fallen from her quiver. Then, she pushed her blood-colored hair back out of her face and looked around for signs of footprints in the sand. Wherever she was, she was certain Sora had to have gone with her so he must be somewhere nearby, but there was no footprints anywhere. When she took a few steps forward and looked back at the palm tree, she saw that she left no footprints either. 

“Well, there goes that theory,” she murmured and then called, “Sora!”

A sharp cry ran down Kairi’s spine, echoing over the vast sea as her voice had. She had no way of knowing if it was Sora or not because she had never heard him speak. Either way, her heart leaped into her throat, pulled painfully, and she was off racing through the sand and leaving no trace behind. 

She stumbled up a worn dock, raced along the worn path there, and was suddenly spilled out into a wilted little town. The buildings were all sad and sagging, windows dusty and boarded over, and the porches sagging dejectedly. There were strange vehicles at the curb on flat tires, brightly-colored with their windows broken and seats spilling white stuffing guts. Children’s toys were littered across brown front lawns, gardens were ruined and brown, and everything looked dead. 

“Sora!” she called again. 

There was a crash and a stray cat yowled. The black creature with its gleaming yellow-gold eyes almost had Kairi stringing her bow, but she reminded herself that it was only a cat. The Heartless couldn’t change form like that… at least, not yet. 

“Here, kitty,” she whispered. “Have you seen my friend?”

The cat arched its back, hissed, and darted off into a dark alleyway between two ruined brown houses.

“Have you seen anybody?” Kairi whispered, but nothing answered her.

The cry came again, louder and closer. It sounded a little like a child’s voice, but Kairi couldn’t be certain. She went to the first house on her left and tried the door, calling out, but the door was locked and the interior was dusty and undisturbed. Again came the cry. Kairi whirled around and saw the flash of a white face in the upstairs attic window of the house across the street.

“Hey!” she shouted.

The window exploded in a shower of sparkling glass stars and someone’s small body came crashing through it, plummeting to the unforgiving street below. She heard the small keening cry as the body fell, heartbreaking and mangled as if the throat was cut.

“No!” she shouted again, arms reaching out even though she could do nothing from this distance. Her heart pulled painfully, lurching up into her throat like a stone. “No!”

Something dug into her arm and there was a cracking blow to her face. Another scream tore from her mouth and she threw her arms to ward off her unseen assailant. What was going on? Where was Sora? Where was she even? What was this place? She screamed as another blow shot across her cheek.

“Kairi! Kairi, stop it! It’s me!”

Her eyes flew open and she found herself looking up into Riku’s concerned face. His hand was pressed over her mouth, eyes bright with concern, and she could see Aurora peering down with concern around his head. To her left, Goofy and Donald were bending over Sora. His face was a mask of silent pain, mouth twisted open though no sound was coming out. Sora’s fingers were still tight around Kairi’s own and the Keyblade was still clasped in her own hand.

“What happened?” Kairi groaned. Her hand felt crushed by the weight of the Keyblade.

“You’re okay, thank God,” Riku breathed and hugged her tightly. The weight of the Keyblade and Sora’s grip on her hand pulled her shoulders back painfully, but she allowed Riku to hug her tightly for a moment because it was clear he was incredibly relieved.

“Riku, you’re killing her,” Aurora said and gently pulled back on his shoulder. 

He gently laid her back down. “Are you okay?”

“I think so. What happened?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Aurora asked.

“Um, Sora. He let go of the Keyblade and walked away. I grabbed it, but it’s so heavy… I finally caught up to him and he was turning into a Heartless, but he held out his hand to me. I remembered what Riku said about getting the Keyblade back into his hand, but I couldn’t lift it so I just grabbed his hand—” That whatever it was, call it a dream or a nightmare, blasted back into her full-force. “—I saw something impossible. We’re still in Enchanted Dominion, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” Riku said at the same moment Aurora choked out, “Turning into a Heartless?! The Keybearer is?!”

“I’ll explain later,” Kairi said to Aurora and then turned back to Riku. “What happened? What about the Heartless that were attacking?”

“The moment you screamed, they scattered like roaches under the light.”

“And that was when it happened,” Donald put in.

“What happened?” Kairi asked.

“Well, there was a sort of wall of light that came and blasted them all away,” Riku explained. 

“When I screamed?”

“Yes.”

“Now, will someone please tell me about the Keybearer being a Heartless?” Aurora put in. “Please? I think it’s a little important.”

“Okay,” Kairi said and struggled to sit up. She heaved the Keyblade across her lap, winced at the crushing pressure, pressed it against Sora’s knuckles, and his hand instantly released hers and wrapped tightly around the hilt of the Keyblade. “It’s unreal how heavy that is. How does Sora swing that thing?”

Riku rolled his eyes. “I told you that even I couldn’t lift it. I can’t believe you could lift it, even if you just dragged it.”

“Um, hello?” Aurora butted in.

“Right, I’m sorry,” Kairi murmured. “When Sora’s world was destroyed, he had his heart eaten.”

“Then why isn’t he a Heartless?” Aurora demanded, eyeing him closely. 

“We’re not entirely sure, but it seems the Keyblade is acting as his heart,” Kairi said.

“Whenever that weapon is out of his hands, he starts turning into a Heartless, but the moment it gets back in his grip, it stops,” Riku added. “Also, the more he uses the Keyblade, the more it saps away at his body and he looks like—” he waved his hand at Sora, gesturing to his face and body which were stained with darkness. “—that.”

“You mean it’s not a skin condition?” Aurora asked.

“No,” Kairi said.

Beside her, Sora abruptly sat up and Donald let out a squawk of surprise, fluttering backwards. 

“Now, gawrsh, Sora. Maybe you should rest a minute,” Goofy murmured.

But Sora got to his feet and Kairi saw that his face was significantly less stained now and the eye that had been completely golden had turned back to the original cerulean-blue flecked with gold that it had been when she had first met him. What had happened to change him back like that? He lifted his face skyward again, looking up at the moon and Kairi followed his gaze. The moon… it was vaguely white-pink, just like the marble slabs the keyholes were inscribed in. Could it be…?

“Guys, look at the moon,” Kairi said and pointed.

Aurora’s owl swooped to perch on Aurora’s arm. “Who?” the owl cried.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the moon and there was a moment of silence before Aurora broke it with, “What?”

“The moon. I think the keyhole might be on the moon,” Kairi whispered.

“How on earth are we supposed to get to it there?” Aurora demanded.

“I have no idea.”

Sora lifted the Keyblade and pointed it directly overhead at the moon. Then, as before, he reached out his hand, waiting patiently for a Princess of Heart to aid him.

“Go ahead, Aurora,” Kairi said. “This is your world.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “You can do it.”

“Wait!” Riku interrupted. “If we lock this world, we’re going to get yanked into the next one right away. Don’t we need to decide what we’re going to do? We clearly need to start gathering these Princesses of Heart so we can oppose the Heartless, but I don’t know if it’s wise to have them all with us.”

“He’s right,” Donald agreed.

“If something were to happen to us, we wouldn’t want everyone’s last hope to be gone with us,” Riku said softly. “But we do need to start getting everyone together. I think somehow we should get them to Disney Castle so King Mickey can start sorting some of this mess out.”

“Shouldn’t we let the king know we’re sending this trouble his way?” Goofy interjected. 

“That would probably be wise,” Aurora agreed. “We have gummi-ships and transmission radios here. I could radio your king and let him know what’s going on.”

“And would you be willing to go to Disney Castle?” Riku asked her.

“To save the world?” she whispered.

Riku nodded. 

Aurora bit her lip and stroked Phillip’s feathers. “Can I bring Phillip with me?”

“In Disney Castle, he certainly won’t stand out,” Donald said. 

“Yes. Then I’ll go to Disney Castle and wait to see what happens. If you need it, as you find these princesses I can come to the world you’re on and collect them,” Aurora offered. “I think it’s the best course of action that I not go along with you.”

Kairi nodded and touched Aurora’s shoulder. “Thank you, Aurora,” she said with a smile. “We’ll see you at Disney Castle soon.”

“Until then,” Aurora said and clasped Kairi’s hand.

“Now, you’re going to want to back up out of range or you might get sucked along with us,” Riku told her.

“What about the Heartless?”

“The moment we lock the world, they’ll be expunged. You’ll be safe.”

“Alright. Travel safe, everyone,” Aurora called, freed Phillip, and made her way quickly through the thorns and out of sight. A moment later, there was a beam of light shooting into the sky, brighter than anything she had ever seen, and another beam raced down from the moon following the path of the first. There was a terrible grinding sound and then a blast of hot air that knocked Aurora to her knees and sent Phillip wheeling overhead. A terrible scream of rage and pain split the night and then everything was quiet. Enchanted Dominion had been locked. “Thank you,” the princess whispered and lifted her arm for Phillip to land. She stroked the bird’s glossy feathers. “We’re safe, Phillip,” she whispered. “Thank you…”

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

Riku struggled out from underneath Kairi. It seemed they were back to their bad landings. Sora was strewn on top of Kairi, looking blankly up at the sky until Goofy pulled him to his feet. Donald squirmed out from under Kairi’s arm and Goofy helped the princess up as well. Riku dragged himself to his feet and began brushing himself off.

“So, what kind of weird place are we in now?” Riku asked flatly.

Kairi accepted Sora’s hand from Goofy and looked around. “Well, I’d say this is…” she bit her lip, “well…”

“It’s a jungle,” Donald said flatly and swatted a passing mosquito. “We’re deep in the jungle.”

“Mosquito City,” Goofy remarked and clapped another bug between his gloves hands. 

Kairi crushed one on her forearm and watched as a bug flew close to Sora’s face, landed, appeared to notice his black-swirled flesh, and flew away without biting him.

“Well,” Riku said and flailed al little. “There’s no sense in standing here and getting eaten alive. Shall we head… somewhere?”

“Somewhere where there’s less mosquitoes,” Donald grumbled.

“Yes, that would certainly be nice,” Kairi said.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	18. Deep Jungle: Pt I

I’m a little disappointed in the lack of reviews from the last chapter. Everyone was so excited about it, but I guess you were expecting more. Later, my friends, much later—not until chapter twenty-three at least.

**X:Deep:X:Jungle:X**

The five of the them trudged through the thick forest for hours without coming across any signs of life (save countless mosquitoes) or even any signs of Heartless. The going was slow with them having to struggle their way through the thick foliage, occasionally being forced to draw weapons and bushwhack through things they couldn’t push through. They had to maneuver under and over obstacles, helping each other out. (Poor Donald must have felt like a beach ball with the way he was being tucked under arms and tossed about. Sora was like a dog on a too short leash, following too close sometimes that he made getting around more difficult and other times so far back that they had to turn around and fetch him.) Then, there were the vicious blood-sucking vampire mosquitoes that made the going not only difficult, but itchy. As a result, in the multiple hours that they spent drudging along through the jungle, they had probably only made it a few miles, but they had at least made it out to the bank of a lovely crystal-clear river and the going would be made easier if they could make their way along the bank the next day.

“Alright,” Riku said when it was getting too dark to see and they had found a nice clearing beside the river where the branches and foliage had all been pushed down into a sort of nest. “Let’s stop here for the night.” 

“Here?” Kairi asked him. Goofy had custody of Sora at the moment so she was free to use both hands to swat mosquitoes. 

“It’s as good a place as any. No matter where we go, there’s going to be mosquitoes. At least here there’s water,” Riku explained his reasoning with a shrug. He put Donald down on his feet, smoothing the duck’s ruffled feathers. “How are you, Donald?”

The mage didn’t dignify that with an answer, only huffing and heading to the river for a drink.

“What we should have gotten from Mary Ann were canteens and a satchel to carry food in,” Kairi remarked as she set down her bow, “instead of so many weapons. I’m hungry.”

“That, my good woman, is what men and weapons are for,” Riku said with a grin. “I’ll find something for dinner.” 

“Go forth, Great White Hunter,” she said sarcastically.

“You’re a riot, Kairi,” Riku huffed. “See if you can get a fire going.” 

“That’s something else we should have gotten,” Kairi said absently, but she was clearly baiting Riku.

“What?” He took the bait—hook, line, and sinker.

“Matches!” She giggled cheekily.

“You’re a riot, Kairi. A real comedian,” Riku mumbled and made his way into the thick jungle.

“Don’t go too far,” Goofy called and led Sora over to where Kairi was trying to start a fire. “You know,” he said after a small moment of watching her struggle, “Donald can do that.”

Kairi palmed her forehead. “That’s right. He’s a mage!”

“Ahyuk!” Goofy laughed.

Kairi called Donald over, but the duck was still feeling put-out from being tossed around. Kairi promised that tomorrow, they would be a little more courteous and Donald started a roaring fire with no more effort than a small word of power and a wave of his staff. Kairi would have huffed and struggled for at least twenty minutes if left to it. She and Goofy dug out some wet wood and put it around the fire to begin to dry while Kairi absently fed the fire some sticks and twigs.

What felt like an eternity later, their Great White Hunter returned triumphant with two small ground squirrels.

“That’s all you got?” Donald asked. “In a lush forest like this?”

“Yeah, Riku, that’s it?” Kairi asked cheekily.

He produced some mushrooms, a mango, and a clump of grapes from his pockets and snorted. “No!” he snapped. 

Kairi laughed at his expense and handed him the small sharp sticks she and Goofy had gathered for skewers. “Let’s get cooking,” she said. 

Admittedly, what Riku had gathered was quite good, but they were all so hungry they probably would have eaten mud just to fill their stomachs. They were still a little hungry when what Riku had brought was gone so Kairi and Donald, with his staff glowing brightly, went into the jungle and gathered some more fruit. This effectively filled them up and they all sat around staring into the leaping flickering orange and amber flames.

Riku yawned. “Should we set up watches?”

“That’s a good—”

Goofy cut her off. “There’s no need. Sora doesn’t sleep.”

“But will he react if the Heartless come across us?” Riku asked with narrowed dragon-green eyes.

“I think so, yes,” Kairi put in. “He has come to our defense several times now, Riku. Stop being so judgmental.”

“I’m not. I’m just… concerned.”

“Sora will keep watch all night,” Goofy said with a small sad nod. “I always see him when I make my rounds at the castle. He never sleeps.”

“How can he survive like that?” Kairi whispered.

“All that Sora is right now is impossible,” Donald said flatly. “He’s the Keybearer and also a Heartless. He had his heart eaten, but he’s still alive. It’s best just not to question it.” Then, he folded his arms over his eyes and seemed to go to sleep after than because his breath was deep and even and he snored cutely. 

Goofy, Kairi, and Riku sat staring at Sora, but Sora’s gaze remained rooted in the fire. The Keyblade was clutched in his hand beside his thigh, gleaming dully in the light of the fire and still spattered with dark black Heartless blood. Actually, all of Sora was spattered with blood. Kairi looked herself and her companion over. Everyone was filthy and they could all use baths.

She glanced at the river, scratched a bug bite, and ventured, “I’m filthy. Do you think it’s safe to wash up?”

“There’s no Heartless in the water,” Goofy said. 

“Go ahead, Kairi,” Riku said. “Holler if you need anything.”

Kairi eyed Riku and he grinned, hands up in a placating gesture. 

“I won’t look, I swear.”

She turned her gaze to Goofy, but the guard wasn’t even looking at her. He was busy feeding sticks to the fire and buffing the blood off his shield as if this conversation about cleanliness had reminded him of the state it was in. (Heck, it probably had!) 

Content with that, Kairi laid down her bow, quiver, and second dagger that Yuffie had given to her, keeping on her person only the one Riku had given her. Then, she walked down to the stream, tucked herself behind a frond of dense flowers just to be sure that no peeping toms would catch a peek at her, and then stripped out of her soiled clothing. 

She wished she had fresh clothing to change into, but she didn’t. There was another thing she should have gotten from Mary Ann—canteens, bag for food, matches, extra clothes… She should make a list. Well, hopefully they’d come to a sort of town eventually and be able to do some shopping. Right, they had no money either.

Kairi sighed heavily, toed the water, and found it surprisingly warm. With one quick glance over her shoulder at the small glow of the fire, she slipped into the water. The moon was so bright overhead, more like a lantern than a real moon, and did it seem so much closer than usual? Well, they were in a different world and maybe this one was just closer to the moon. That could explain it. 

She sank under the water and scrubbed her fingers through her hair. She opened her eyes, peering through the water as a few sparkling fish that danced there and smiled. This world… it seemed so peaceful. Was it possible this was a world without Heartless? Her heart sank. If that had been so, it was over now. The Heartless would surely arrive here in search of Kairi and the others. She surfaced with a splash, water flying from the ends of her blood-colored hair.

She wrung it out and combed it with her fingers as best she could. Then, she swam into the center of the stream and felt the pull of the soft current for a moment. She floated, looking up at the bright moon, and found her hand wandering to the Claddagh mark on her chest. Why? Why was she one of these oh-so important Princesses of Heart? She wasn’t special. She wasn’t a leader. She wasn’t anything at all. Sighing, she swam back to the shoreline, enjoying the comforting softness of the water around her.

When she got out of the water, she noticed another thing she should have asked Mary Ann for—towels. Soaking wet, she could do nothing but wait to dry before she dressed again. Sure, she could go back to the fire and dry out there, but Riku was there and she noticed the way he looked at her lately. It didn’t make her uncomfortable, per say, but she knew what that look meant and she didn’t want Riku to think of her like that. They were best friends, for heaven’s sake! And she wasn’t sure if she wanted that to change, if she wanted them to be more.

Kairi found a patch of thick springy grass and lay down, enjoying the moonlight on her skin and the soothing lull of the water. Down here, there weren’t so many mosquitoes either and the smoke from the nearby fire was helping repel them too. Lying like this, she could almost pretend none of these horrible things were happening. She closed her eyes and sighed in bliss, relaxing like she hadn’t had time to in what felt like an eternity.

She must have nodded off.

The next thing Kairi knew, she felt a soft touch on her breast and her eyes shot open. She tried to sit up, but something cold and heavy was resting across her chest. Was it the… Keyblade? Gasping for breath, she focused down to the soft touch on her skin. Sora was kneeling at her side, his head dipped low, with his freshly-cleaned (thank you, Goofy) weapon resting across her bare collarbones. His lips were gently caressing the Claddagh mark on her chest, tongue snaking out as if to taste her heart. Then, he lay his head on her breast and closed his blue-gold-flecked eyes. He let out a soft breath that tickled her skin and raised goose bumps.

“Sora,” she breathed.

His eyes slid open and met hers unblinkingly. He was really looking at her now, not just the casual way their eyes had met before in Disney Castle where she felt as if he was just looking into her soul. This time, he was really seeing her.

“Sora?” she whispered.

His mouth opened lightly, he wet his lips, and it looked as if he was going to speak, but then his mouth closed abruptly. His eyes slid closed as well and he contentedly remained beside her with his head pressed to her naked chest. 

Kairi wasn’t so comfortable though. For one thing, his Keyblade was so heavy on her chest.

“Sora, you’ve got to move your Keyblade,” she said, half-knowing he wasn’t going to respond but trying anyway. 

Shockingly, he lifted the Keyblade and laid it alongside her body, still holding it tightly in his hand.

“Sora,” she gasped, but he didn’t respond to her. Either way, this was a start. “Will you let me up?” she tried again.

Surprisingly, he lifted his head and she saw what might have been a mournful look on his face, but Sora sat back on his haunches and let her up. Kairi grabbed her blouse and clasped it to her bare chest, but Sora’s hand reached out and caught her wrist. His eyes were focused again, right into her eyes, and she could resist him as he pulled her arms down to just above her nipples. Then, he touched the Claddagh mark with his fingertip.

“Do you know who I am?” Kairi whispered.

Sora just gazed at her, eyes unwavering.

“I’m a Princess of Heart and you’re the Keybearer.”

He continued looking at the mark without a gesture to show he’d heard her.

“We’re going to save the worlds, Sora,” she whispered. Then, she cupped his face and watched the darkness swirl on his flesh. Though there was less of it than before, he was still strange and frightening to look at. It was then that a thought struck Kairi. “I wonder if we can get your heart back…”

“Kairi! I’m not peeping, but are you ever coming back to camp?” Riku called, his voice bouncing.

“I’ll be right there.”

Sora put his free hand over hers on his face and looked right into her eyes. There was something in his softly blank expression, but Kairi didn’t know what it was. After a moment, a bird cried overhead and Sora turned his gaze that way like a child easily distracted. Then, Kairi slipped from his grasp, dressed, took his hand, pulled him to his feet, and led him back to camp.

“Have a nice bath?” Goofy asked kindly. “There you are Sora.”

“Certainly took you long enough,” Riku huffed and eyed Sora. “When did he get away?”

“You should try it sometime, Riku,” Kairi said flippantly. “I can smell you from here.”

Goofy laughed and Kairi and Sora sat down across from him at the fire. Riku skulked about a little bit longer, surreptitiously sniffed himself, and decided soon after that he was going to take a bath as well. Kairi and Goofy shared a good laugh over him, but Sora didn’t. He just kept his bright blue eyes trained on Kairi and she tried not to think about the fact that all the gold was gone from those beautiful orbs. Was she having some effect on him, on the Heartless in him?

Suddenly, a dark shape dropped down into their camp.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	19. Deep Jungle: Pt II

My dad gave me his cold.

**X:Deep:X:Jungle:X**

Kairi let out a shriek of surprise and jumped backwards. Her back connected with Sora’s side and sent them both sprawling across the thick greenery, Sora staring blankly up at the sky from this new position. Goofy gave a small cry of surprise, grabbed his shield, and leaped to his feet. All the commotion woke Donald who immediately lifted his staff so that sparks of lightning leaped off it. Riku came running seconds later, shirtless but armed. All eyes turned to the intruder. 

It wasn’t a Heartless. 

It was a… man?

Crouched on feet and knuckles like an ape was a strange man in maybe his mid-thirties with snarled brown hair and a body so strongly muscled that it spoke of a lot of bare-handed fights and physical labor. His fingers were twisted and heavily callused from supporting the weight of his body, his feet the same, and there was an old scar on his chest that looked a lot like claw marks. His dark eyes were sharp and intense, watching them all closely, but he made no move either backwards in retreat or forward to attack.

They all stared at each other. 

Finally, Kairi ventured up onto her knees and said softly as if speaking to a small animal, “Who are you?”

The man tilted his head and made a strange sound deep in his chest. Then, he let out a bark of something that sounded incredibly like an ape’s chatter and stared at Kairi expectantly. Was she supposed to get something out of that weird sound? Apparently so because he made it again.

“I think he’s saying ‘Tarzan,’” Goofy ventured.

“Tarzan?” Kairi repeated.

The man’s eyes brightened and he made another sound before expectantly stepping forward in a strange hobbling little crouch like a monkey to put his face very close to Kairi’s. For several minutes, he stared at her, without moving an inch, and Kairi was beginning to wonder what it was he was waiting for.

“Maybe you should tell him your name?” Goofy offered, peeking out from behind his shield. 

Kairi bit her lip, feeling a little foolish and said, “Kairi,” very slowly and patiently.

The man, Tarzan, made another weird sound and repeated in a slightly gravelly voice, “Kai-ri.”

“Yes. That’s me.”

Then, he titled his head and scrutinized her. He reached out, took her hand, and pressed it against his own. He appeared very puzzled by this, turned his head back to the forest, and made a sharp sound that sounded a little like ‘rain’ or ‘mane’ or, hell, even ‘profane.’ There were way to many rhymes for that word.

“Um,” Kairi began and tried to pull her hand away, but a sudden rustling in the brush caught her attention. Everyone aimed their weapons there. ‘Brain’ didn’t exactly rhyme with ‘Heartless’ but they were taking no chances. Then, they heard a voice with a vague English accent and sounding very tired and unhappy indeed.

“Tarzan, how many times must I tell you that my father and I cannot keep up with you?” Then, a young woman with tousled moose-brown hair and a nice honest face stumbled out of the thick foliage. She was wearing a tattered yellow skirt and halter-like top that had been cut, knotted, tied with vines, and threaded with flowers. Her feet were bare and dirty. It looked like she had been out in the jungle a long time. She took one look at all the weapons aimed at her, gave a shout, and dove back into the brush.

“Wait!” Kairi shouted. “We’re harmless! Really!” She turned to snap at her companions. “You morons, put those down!”

The woman poked her head out of a bush of blue flowers. “Really? Who might you be?” She eyed them a moment, decided they weren’t a real threat, and stepped out of the disguising foliage. “Well, you don’t look like gorillas and I’m certain only my father, Tarzan, and I are the only humans in this jungle so there’s only one logical explanation…” She pressed her fingertip to her mouth. “You must have come from another world.”

Kairi let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. “Yes, exactly. I’m Kairi Sinclair of fallen Hollow Bastion. This is Riku, my head guard. Donald and Goofy are King Mickey’s men from Disney Castle,” she said and gestured in turn. “And this is Sora, King Mickey’s son and the Keybearer. May I ask who you are?”

“Well, since you told me who you are I see no reason why not. You’ve already met Tarzan and I am Jane Porter. This is my father—” she gestured to the empty space to her left, saw the strange expression on Kairi’s face, glanced down, and gasped. “Daddy! Where are you?! Daddy!”

The bushes to her right rustled and a panting man stumbled out into the clearing. He was rather small with a round belly and a large bushy white mustache beneath his hawk nose, but the moment he laid eyes on the others and smiled, Kairi liked him immediately. 

“This is my father,” Jane continued, but was interrupted by said man.

“Professor Archimedes Q. Porter,” he said with a small salute, “at your service!”

Kairi giggled and went about introducing everyone again. “Won’t you sit down and tell us about yourselves? How did you find us in this giant place?” she asked when she had finished and Goofy had hauled the sprawled Sora to his feet and brushed him off.

“Well, we were at our own camp, just starting dinner, when all of the sudden, Tarzan just ran out of the camp. He normally does that,” Jane explained. She was a fantastic storyteller with many facial expressions and arm waving to accompany her words. “But he charged right back a second later and shouted at us—” Here she demonstrated what was clearly Tarzan’s private foreign language and the man perked up, watching her closely until she stopped and continued with her story “—which is apparently Tarzan for ‘Follow me! There’re strange people here!’ So follow him we did and we ran into you. Although I must say, getting here was quite difficult. Tarzan gets through this jungle like a professional, but my father and I just can’t hope to keep up with him.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Riku put in doubtfully. “You speak his language? Which is monkey?”

“Gorilla, actually,” Jane said with a smile. “And I do understand a little bit, just like he understands a little bit of English.”

Riku’s eyes widened even more. “He speaks English?”

Jane scratched the back of her neck. “Well, sort of… He says ‘Jane’ and ‘Professor’ and ‘Gorillas’ and a few other things. It really depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“The situation,” she said. “Sometimes, he spits out entire sentences in perfect though broken English. Normally, that only happens when there’s great danger nearby—like the leopard huntress, Sabor. It as if his heart… his heart just makes the rest of him know whatever is necessary to protect us.”

“Sabor, you said?” Riku asked. “Then there are no Heartless here?”

“Heartless?” Jane repeated. “Oh, no. None of those monsters and of course not. What could they possibly have to gain by devouring this world or even landing here. Daddy, Tarzan, and I are the only humans on this world.”

“Just the three of you?” Kairi asked. 

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Not completely,” Jane admitted. “This world is nothing but virgin jungle. It’s possible there’s a small tribe of natives somewhere in some secret place. I’m sure Tarzan could tell us, but he doesn’t understand enough English to understand any questions we ask him. I’m trying to teach him to speak English, but the process is slow.”

A light bulb went on in Kairi’s head. “Teach him to speak?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“With a projector mainly. Tarzan responds best to learning if he can see and touch things.”

Kairi reached behind herself, found Sora’s hand, and pulled him forward to kneel beside her. “Sora, is there anything you can do to make Tarzan speak?”

“Um, Kairi,” Goofy ventured. “Sora doesn’t speak either.”

“I know, but something Jane said got me thinking. Tarzan speaks in broken English whenever they’re in real danger as if his heart is doing it. Well, we have the Keybearer and a Princess of Heart. Maybe there’s something we can do.”

“The Keybearer and a Princess of Heart?” Archimedes repeated. “My goodness.”

“Sora,” Kairi said. Then, she took his hand in her own and guided it in a path from the Claddagh mark over her heart, to the vocal cords in her throat, and then pressed his fingers against her mouth. Then, just in case this wasn’t going to work, she closed her eyes and willed very hard that Sora would understand what she meant. She opened her mouth slightly and his fingers slipped inside. “Please,” she whispered and her tongue traced the rough tips of his fingers. “Understand me.”

The pulling pain in her heart that she associated with Sora and his Keyblade became almost unbearable and she could hardly breathe, but she forced her mind to remain on the task at hand. Please, make Tarzan speak… Unlock that part of his heart… Make him speak… 

Since Kairi’s eyes were closed, she didn’t see exactly what happened. She only felt Sora move where he was kneeling before her. His arm and Keyblade lifted and aimed lightly at Tarzan while Sora’s eyes and fingers never left Kairi’s mouth. The tip of the Keyblade began to glow. Then, as if it hadn’t worked, there was a puff of bright sparks and the light was gone. 

From everyone else’s perspective, it was then that Kairi dropped into unconsciousness, but there was a little more that had happened before that.

There was a screaming voice that slashed through her head, more painful than the pull in her heart or anything else she had ever experienced. The voice was tearing her apart in the nameless cry of anguish that raced through her skull. Then, in the moments just before Sora’s fingers slid from her mouth and the light exploded into small sparks, the scream became words. “Please, make it stop!” Then, everything was gone.

…

Riku buoyed Kairi up in his arms, scraping her thick hair back from her pale face. “What happened? What was that?” He glared at Sora, wrapping Kairi tightly in his arms. “What did you do?”

Goofy wet a cloth and handed it to Riku. “Here, pat her face. See if you can bring her around.”

Donald turned to Jane, Tarzan, and Archimedes. Whatever Sora and Kairi had done, it was worked. Tarzan was a little less than fluent in English now and only a few times had a monkey-like sound escaped into his speech. Each time it did, he looked surprised. Jane and her father were excitedly questioning Tarzan and Tarzan as answering with just as much eagerness. 

“I’d say,” the mage replied, “that they unlocked the part of Tarzan’s heart that had the deep desire to communicate.”

“They can do that?” Goofy asked.

“It seems so.”

“I never would have guess the Keyblade had that much power.”

Donald glanced at Sora. The right side of the young prince’s face was smeared with thick darkness again, fingers of gold creeping into his right eye. “It seems so,” was all Donald said. He wasn’t sure exactly what else he could say. 

“Stop!” Kairi shouted and lurched up in Riku’s arms, panting. For a moment, she fought him, struggling wildly, but Riku caught her wrists and held them tightly.

“Kairi! Kairi! You’re okay! It’s me! It’s Riku!”

“Make it stop!” she screamed, indigo eyes squeezed tightly shut and her face twisted in pain. 

Beside the fire, Sora’s head snapped up and his face showed the first real expression Donald had ever seen. The blood visibly drained from his face until he was chalk-pale and his blue-and-gold eyes filled with some kind of unnamed emotion.

“Please, make it stop!”

“Kairi! Kairi, stop it! It’s me!”

Then, Sora was at Kairi’s side. He reached out his hand to touch her, but Riku slapped Sora’s hand away.

“Don’t touch her!” Riku shouted at Sora. 

“Stop!” Kairi screamed. “Please, make it stop!”

“This is your fault!”

Sora shrank back, his eyes sparkling with something Riku didn’t want to think about. Another reaction? Then, the young prince’s eyes filled with tears and the gold flooded out of them as if washed away. The tears rolled down his cheeks silently, just as silent as the rest of his existence, and only lasted a moment. Then, expressionless and staring off at some point in the distance, his wet cheeks began to dry in the muggy jungle air.

Panting, Kairi’s smoky eyes slid open.

Riku brushed her hair back, concern lighting up his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be, Riku?”

She didn’t remember anything.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? (I think I might be writing too much. I put this at the end of every chapter, but in this one, I just couldn’t remember what I wrote after questions… Maybe I need a nap.) 


	20. Deep Jungle: Pt III

Urg. I’m sick.

**X:Deep:X:Jungle:X**

Donald slid Riku a look that said it would be best not to tell Kairi about what had happened and Goofy mopped Sora’s damp cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt though the young prince didn’t even appear to notice. Tarzan’s intense dark eyes were fixed on Sora, but he made no move toward the boy. Jane and her father put their heads together, whispering as best they could, with Jane flapping her arms around. Kairi glanced at everyone, taking in the strange behavior, wondered what had happened, but didn’t ask. She figured it was best not to ask… about what had happened, that is. Everything else was fair game.

“So,” Kairi began. “I don’t suppose you guys know where this world’s keyhole is by any chance. It’ll be on a slab of white-pink stone with a mark like this,” she pulled aside the neck of her blouse to reveal the Claddagh mark, “and a keyhole shape.”

“A keyhole!” Archimedes exclaimed and banged his fist against his palm. “Do you think that’s what it could be, Jane?”

“I don’t think so, Daddy,” Jane said and ran her hand through her hair. She plucked a flower from her worn yellow top, twirled it in her fingers, and then absently tucked it behind Kairi’s ear. “You’re so pretty, Kairi. I bet there are people who want to eat you up, monsters that want to devour you… isn’t that right?” Her eyes slid to Sora. “Or maybe it’s him they want to dine on? What do you think?”

Kairi pulled back. “What do you mean?”

“Those creatures…” she whispered, voice low and almost condemned. Then, suddenly, it changed. “Daddy and I are explorers, researchers, curious people, so you can imagine that before everything started happening, we liked to visit other worlds. We were visiting this world’s neighbor, a place laughably close and ironically a bustling metropolis, so when the Heartless broke free of Kingdom Hearts, that place was the first to go.” 

“We were there when it happened,” she continued, hugging herself tightly with both arms wrapped around her torso as if she might break apart and spill her heart across the ground. “It was horrible. Everyone was screaming and I saw children devoured whole. Daddy and I escaped, though barely and crash-landed here. We saw that world wink out of existence like a falling star. It was so fast, so terrible, and so easy. It was over within minutes. We were the only ones that survived.”

Archimedes patted his daughter’s hand gently. “Jane…”

“They didn’t even bother to follow us, you know. They don’t care who they eat, just so long as they’re eating someone,” she whispered. “As a scientist, I can tell you things about those Heartless. They used to be human, but something evil in them just took over and made them into monsters and they devour the hearts of others like they’re trying to correct the evil in themselves. They devour everything in their path and no one can resist them. It’s impossible to stop them, Kairi. Do you know why?”

Jane’s eyes were dark.

Kairi shook her head, trembling.

“Because there is darkness in every heart. Even mine, even yours…” she whispered. “The Heartless will always have something else to eat. I don’t think anything will be able to stop them. They’re a black tide that’s going to consume everything.”

“You’re wrong!” Kairi shouted suddenly. 

Jane’s head snapped up.

“We can stop them! And we have been!” she shouted, small hands balled into tight white-knuckled fists. “The Keybearer can lock a world so it won’t be devoured and all the Heartless are expunged. We can stop them! And we will!”

Archimedes dropped her hand. “What do you mean? You’ve found a way to combat the Heartless?”

“Yes,” Kairi said with a firm nod. “With the Keybearer and a Princess of Heart.”

Jane lowered her eyes. “I am sorry. It’s just… this has been hard on me…”

Archimedes glanced at them, stroking his daughter’s hand again. “She lost her mother to the Heartless and Jane has always been a sensitive girl. Seeing all those people die…”

“I understand. I lost my parents to the Heartless as well,” Kairi said gently. “It’s alright.”

“We’d like to help however we can,” Archimedes continued. “What can we do?”

“Well, we need to find the keyhole,” Riku put in. 

“And it’d be good to know if Jane is a Princess of Heart,” Donald added.

“Princess of Heart?” Jane repeated. “One of the seven princesses from the transmission?”

“Yes,” Riku said.

“But how do we know?” she asked.

“Like this,” Kairi exposed the Claddagh mark again, “all Princesses have one here above their heart.”

Jane shuffled the yellow cloth, flowers, and vines aside to reveal smooth tanned flesh. She was not a Princess of Heart. “Sorry,” she said. “I wish I could help, but it’s probably best that I’m not anyway. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I’m not the bravest of people.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kairi said gently.

Riku broke in. “But we do need to find the Keyhole.”

“Of course,” Jane said and turned to Tarzan. “Do you know where the keyhole is?”

He angled his head, shuffled his way over to Sora, and took the Keyblade in his rough hands. Sora’s eyes went along the length of the key and into Tarzan’s eyes. Something seemed to pass between them, but it was hard to be sure. Suddenly though, Tarzan went backwards as if shot and looked sharply into Kairi’s face. “I know where it is,” he said in halting broken speech. “This way.”

“Go slowly, Tarzan,” Jane called. “So we can keep up with you.”

“Yes,” he said but was gone into the jungle within seconds.

Jane shouted his name, diving in after him. Archimedes calling for his daughter and rushing in as well.

Kairi grabbed Sora’s hand tightly and pulled him to his feet. For a moment, his grip was as lax and dead as she was used to it being, but then his fingers tightened around hers. She glanced back over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of Riku racing into the jungle after her, but Sora’s face instantly captivated her. His eyes, pure blue, were locked right with hers and he gave her hand a squeeze as if to communicate. When she stumbled, too busy looking at him, Sora’s grip pulled her back to her feet gently and quickly. Ever since his lips had touched the mark on her chest, something in him had been different.

Riku pulled abreast of Kairi. “I wish I knew where we were going,” he panted.

Kairi squeezed Sora’s fingers. “I wish we knew anything,” she said.

Then, Donald and Goofy joined them, panting and gasping.

“Where are we going?” Goofy asked.

“Wish I knew,” Riku remarked. He glanced at Kairi from the corner of his green eyes and his gaze strayed to her hand and Sora’s. What was going on between them? Was the darkness in Sora polluting Kairi? Why was she so close with him? Even more important, was it anything to cause Riku concern? Did Sora intend to hurt her? Would he turn into a Heartless at the last moment and kill her, especially using the Keyblade as much as he was now to lock the worlds? He bit his lip and continued running alongside his princess and the dark prince. “I wish I knew,” he repeated more to himself than anyone else.

…

Tarzan brought them to a waterfall glade, waving for them to follow eagerly, and then proceeded to scale the cliff face easily. At the top, he knocked down several long vines so the others could climb up easily. He slid down the vine, hanging on by one hand, and pointed behind the veil of water. “Friends… this way.” Then, he put his bare foot on a moss-covered ledge and slipped into a hidden cave. His brown hand came out, caught Jane’s wrist, and helped her inside. She, in turn, helped her father in.

Riku reached the top before the others, even with Donald slung over his shoulder. Just behind him was Goofy. This time, he had not had to carry Sora. Instead, Kairi had gently but firmly told Sora to climb and showed him how. It was a little like dealing with a baby and he was slow, but Sora climbed up by himself. Riku pulled Goofy in, helping the guard lug his heavy shield.

“Thanks, Riku,” Goofy said, panting.

“No problem.” Riku peeked over the edge of the ledge down at Kairi and Sora. Sora was at the mouth of the opening, just hanging on like some kind of monkey, with those blue eyes of his fixed forward in a piercing yet vague way. “Come on Sora,” Riku mumbled. “Give me your hand.”

Sora stared at Riku with those eyes.

Riku repeated with a sigh, “Reach out and give me your hand.”

Sora was still gripping the Keyblade and the vine in one hand, but he loosened his grip with the other and reached out to Riku. Riku grasped the young man’s wrist securely and felt Sora’s fingers tighten around his own in response. Was this kid… starting to come around?

“Now, let go of the vine,” he ordered, step by step.

Sora let go and dropped, hanging on only by Riku’s hand and looking up at him strangely. There was something strange in Sora’s usually expressionless face, almost like a touch of fear. Riku tightened his grip to show Sora he meant no harm and then pulled him up into the cave. Sora stumbled there and then clutched at the cave wall as if relieved, but it only lasted a moment before he straightened and stared blankly back at the opening.

Riku peered down again. “Kairi, are you coming?”

“Yes,” she called and her voice was faint.

“Are you alright? I’ll climb down to get you.”

“No, I’m okay.” Her voice broke.

Strange, Kairi had never been afraid of heights before. Was this a new fear or was she just unnerved by the crashing sound of the waterfall? She always had been particularly bothered by certain sounds though Riku didn’t think water was one of them. The screaming of the Heartless, Riku’s voice when there was jealousy in it, and the clash of weaponry were things that bothered her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Call when you’re ready to come in.”

“Okay,” she called faintly.

Riku turned to face the others and the keyhole they were admiring. 

Sure enough and like the others, it was a simple slab of white marble inscribed with both the Claddagh mark on Kairi’s chest and the keyhole’s shape. This one, though, was being feasted on by a mass of gold and blue butterflies. As Riku watched, one butterfly took flight from the keyhole and came to Sora. The young man reached out his hand lightly and the butterfly landed among his fingers, resting there with its wings quivering. Then, suddenly, it flew back to the keyhole and remained there. Almost curiously, Sora pressed that hand to his chest and left it there, his bright cerulean eyes fixed on some point on the cavern’s mossy floor.

“Riku,” Kairi called lightly.

Riku hurried to the mouth of the cave and saw that she was indeed there, hanging onto the vine for dear life and her pretty face was white-pale. “Kairi,” he gasped. “You’re not afraid of heights. What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know. I’m… I’m so afraid. Hurry, Riku,” she pleaded and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut. “Get me out of here, please… Help me… Now!” She let go of the vine and reached desperately out to him, blind with her eyes still tightly shut. “Riku, pull me up!”

He grabbed her hand and she immediately let go of the vine with everything she had. It was almost as if she passed out except her grip on Riku’s hand was deathly-tight and ice-cold. He heaved her up, but her sudden weight had pulled him forward. His foot found the mossy patch and slid out from underneath him. He let go of Kairi only out of reflex, grabbing for the wall desperately. Kairi’s voice rose into a shriek and her nails clawed through his flesh as her tight grip slid down his arm. Her fingers, damp with sweat, went right through his and she fell.

“Kairi!” Riku shouted, diving to grab for her, but she was already out of his grasp. “No!”

The air beside his head shifted in a rush and something dark and light dove past him in a blur. He heard Donald and Goofy shout Sora’s name but wasn’t exactly sure what had happened until the vine beside his face jerked tight and he saw Kairi’s body stop mid-fall. Sora was hanging there with her, one arm around her waist, the other holding the vine. Slowly, Sora’s face lifted and those blue eyes went right into Riku, stabbed deep into his heart and soul. 

Terror…

Sora was terrified!

“Just hold on!” Riku shouted down to Sora. “We’ll pull you up.”

Goofy and Donald were already heaving on the vine and Riku joined them. Within moments, they had dragged Sora and Kairi back into the mouth of the cave and heaved them up. Goofy and Donald surrounded Sora while Riku captured Kairi in his arms.

“Kairi, are you okay? What was that? You’ve never been afraid of heights.”

She pressed a hand to her damp face. “I know… It was like I wasn’t myself. I felt like… there was someone else inside my head, someone terrified of heights and of falling.”

“Someone else?” 

Kairi nodded, wiping her red hair out of her face.

Riku’s gaze slid to Sora. The prince’s face was emotionless again now, but Riku knew he hadn’t mistaken what he had seen on Sora’s face earlier—deathly fear. But why had Kairi been paralyzed by fear too? And why had Sora made the climb so easily if he was afraid of heights? Something just wasn’t adding up.

“I’m alright, Riku. I don’t know what happened, but I’m alright. Let’s lock the keyhole.”

Riku nodded, helped her to her feet, and glanced at Sora again. Goofy and Donald were busy wondering what had made Sora jump to Kairi’s aid like that. They hadn’t seen the fear in Sora’s face or what had happened to Kairi. Riku was the only one who knew what was going on.

“Riku?”

He jolted. “Huh?”

“You can let go now.”

He released her arm. “I’m sorry.”

“So, this world will be safe now?” Jane asked, clasping her hands tightly.

“Yes,” Riku told her. “But you’ll have to leave this area or else be transported to the next world with us.”

“I understand,” Jane said to him and then turned to Kairi. “And thank you… for what you did to Tarzan.”

Kairi smiled. “It was no trouble. I hope to meet you again, Jane. You seem like you have a lot of interesting stories to tell.”

Jane laughed. “Do I ever!”

“Toodle-pip!” Archimedes called to them as Tarzan helped him back down onto the vine. 

The jungle-man did the same for Jane, and stared at the five of them for a long moment. Then, in his strange ape-walk, he went over to Sora and pressed his callused hand against the prince’s chest tightly and uttered something in his native tongue. Sora’s eyes went into Tarzan’s and his head dipped slightly in what could have been a nod. Then, Tarzan slid over the edge of the cavern and was gone from their view. No one said anything about the moment that had passed between him and Sora.

“Sora,” Kairi said softly and held out her hand.

The Keybearer took her hand and gripped it tightly. Kairi’s face went pale again and she pressed a hand to her chest. That pulling again… what was causing it? Sora lifted the Keyblade and the beam of light shot out among the butterflies. Automatically, the butterflies took flight like a beautiful cloud, mingled with the bright light, and then they all were gone as one.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	21. The Blackness Between Worlds and Hearts?

Oye vey…

**X:Castle:X:of:X:Dreams:X**

In a cloud of blue and gold butterflies, the five companions were neatly set down in the throne room of some beautiful white castle. Lounging on three thrones set out for them was an elderly woman with a pinched face and two younger women with ugly expressions. Outside, the sound of the Heartless screaming was louder than anything Kairi had ever heard and her hands immediately flew to cover her ears. Riku stepped closer as if to shield her.

“Who are you?” the older woman demanded rudely with a dismissive wave of her hand. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing?” Riku demanded of her. “The Heartless must be right outside your door! How can you just sit here if you’re rulers of this world!”

“We’re not the rulers,” the black-haired girl to the woman’s left said languidly. “It doesn’t matter what happens to this world. Cinderella fled when her stupid prince died and just left us here with no protection. Once the darkness arrives, there’ll be nothing left except to rule over the darkness.”

“Are you stupid?” Riku shouted. “Do you think the darkness with let you control it? The Heartless will destroy you!”

There was a triumphant scream and a crash from outside.

Kairi clung to Riku’s sleeve. “Riku! They’re coming! We have to find the keyhole!”

“Keyhole?” the red-haired girl repeated, perking up. She got up from her throne and shoved it aside and there was the keyhole inscribed in the wall in its trademark slab of pink-white stone. “What good would it be? No one has the key.”

“If we could give the darkness the heart of this world, they would bow before us,” the old woman said gleefully. “We just need the…” her sharp grey eyes fell on Sora like knives. “The Key!”

Then, as suddenly and sharply as a bomb going off, the doors were flung open and the Heartless rushed in. They were a sea of darkness. Riku, Donald, and Goofy drew their weapons and started to fight back. Kairi pulled out her small daggers and held them both at the ready. Beside her, the darkness in Sora’s face pulsed and swirled. The Keyblade was glowing faintly in his hand. Silently, still looking at the keyhole in the wall, he reached for Kairi’s hand.

“No! Sora, the Heartless! Stop the Heartless!” she shouted to him as one leapt onto her back an clawed into her flesh. 

Sora just stood there, his hand outstretched, even at the Heartless circled him warily. They weren’t just going to attack the Keybearer willy-nilly, but when he did nothing even as they nosed against his legs cautiously, they attacked in force. The five of them were quickly overwhelmed, their cries lost to the cackles of laughter coming from those three women. Within moment though, the laughter turned to screams. Then, the Heartless began to claw and rake at the place where the keyhole was until it burst open. There was a bright light, then overpowering darkness, then… absolutely nothing. It was the darkness of deep space, the vast emptiness, between worlds.

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

Falling… falling… into darkness…

Kairi winced as the pain in her chest built up to an unbearable level. Her eyes slid open and she felt the cold of tears drying on her cheeks. Darkness all around her. There was darkness everywhere. What had happened? She tried to remember, but the pain in her heart only worsened until she cried out. That sound cleared her head and everything rushed back to her. Right, the Heartless had overpowered them and devoured the heart of the new world they had landed in.

Was she a Heartless now?

Or was she dead?

Kairi closed her eyes again. Her heart must have been eaten, but if that was the case then why was the agony in her chest so great? Was it the empty space where her vital life-giving organ should be turning into a black hole and sucking the rest of her into it? She whimpered and pressed her hands to her chest. There, she felt the racing beat. So, she still had her heart safely in her chest, but what had happened? Why had her heart been spared? Did it have something to do with the fact that she was a Princess of Heart? But that should have just made her even more delectable like it had been in Traverse Town when the Heartless were only after her.

What had happened?

Where were the others?

Alone, Kairi reached out in the darkness, groping blindly. Shockingly, her fingers found warm flesh and the fabric of clothing. Eagerly, she dug her fingers in and pulled whoever it was closer, feeling her way quickly up the smooth chest to the face and running her fingers through the hair. It wasn’t Donald or Goofy, that she was certain of. It must have been Riku or Sora, but she couldn’t tell like this in the dark. She held this person close, wishing she knew what was happening here and what had happened.

A voice rang out. “You know what he is?”

Then, there was a jet of fiercely hot air and blinding bright light that plowed through the darkness. Kairi found that she wasn’t in the abyss between worlds after all, but in a small room with the floor a few inches beneath her levitating body. Gently, she was set down on the floor.

“Don’t you?” the voice repeated.

Kairi glanced down and found her arms wrapped securely around Sora’s narrow shoulders. His fingers still clung desperately to the Keyblade, but his face was a broken mask. His blue eyes stared up at nothing, gaping wide, and full of tears that made slow paths down his pale and stained cheeks. Kairi pressed her hand against his cheek, brushing the tears away with her thumb.

“Sora,” she whispered. “Sora.”

“Do you know what that boy is?”

“Yes,” she said firmly though she did not know who she was talking to. “He’s the prince and he’s slowly becoming a Heartless.”

“Not becoming… he is.”

“No he’s not!”

“He is. He has no heart, none at all.”

“But—”

“The Keyblade is acting as his heart, but it is destroying him… slowly, slowly…”

Kairi hugged him close. “I want to help him.”

“He will perish.”

“Why?!” she shouted.

“You cannot lift his heart.”

“Why not?”

“It is too heavy a heart to carry… too heavy… far too heavy…”

“I can do it.”

“You are not strong enough to stand, protecting both hearts.”

Kairi bit her lip, looking down into Sora’s tragic face. She pressed her hand to his chest, but there was only a faint beat beneath the flesh. “Why not?” she whispered. “Sora, why?”

“His heart is weighed down by sorrows, by pain, by his fears, by everything that has ever touched him…”

She wiped Sora’s cheeks. “Who are you?”

“The Keyblade.”

Her heart leaped into her throat. “Then we are…?”

“Inside the Keyblade. At the last moment, Sora took your hand and when the Heartless came, you were pulled in with him.”

“Why would he save me?”

There was silence. Then, lightly, “That lost shard of him thinks you can help. You are… connected… to Sora because you are a Princess of Heart. He knows that if anyone can help him, it will be one of the seven.”

“Then, Sora wants to come back?”

“Of course.”

“Let me help.”

“You will perish.”

Kairi’s temper flared. “And what good are you, Keyblade? You’re supposed to saved the worlds, but you’re in Sora’s hands and he hardly has a care about what goes on around him! You’re a useless weapon.”

The atmosphere around her turned dark and she wondered if she had made a mistake.

“I chose Sora!” The Keyblade roared. “I chose him and he will use me!”

“But he can’t!” Kairi shouted. “He’s becoming a Heartless! Soon, you’ll be useless!”

“SILENCE!”

The hot air blasted into Kairi again, stinging her hair against her cheeks. She clutched Sora tightly.

“You think you can help him, Princess of Heart?”

“Yes…” she whispered.

“Are you strong enough to stand protecting both your heart and mine?” (1)

“Yes,” she whispered. “I will do all I can.”

“Who is the betrayer?” 

“What?” she breathed.

“Who's the killer in the crowd?”

“There is no—”

“The one who creeps in corridors and doesn't make a sound?”

Her mind raced back to Sora, not sleeping, lurking outside her door when the Heartless attacked without ever speaking. She realized then that there was far more to this than she had ever believed. It was far darker and more complicated, but there was no way she could back out anymore. She had to do something!

“Your heart has decided,” the Keyblade’s voice said hollowly.

For a moment, Kairi feared her heart had chickened out.

“Take the piece of his heart that I have. See what you can do with his fear weighing you down the way it weighs on him. Here! Take it!” 

Then, there was a blast of something in the center of Kairi’s already-aching chest, a terrible blasting pain like a drill going deep into her sternum. She screamed in agony, saw Sora blink and his eyes focus on her face, before everything around her fell away into darkness again.

…

Riku was alone in the darkness. He sensed something watching him, hunting him from the shadows, but he couldn’t control his body. He couldn’t move to face it. He couldn’t even reach to string his bow. He couldn’t anything. He was caught, suspended, like a puppet on strings. Something… something was slinking about in the shadows, silently, watching, hunting, prepared to eat him… If his heart hadn’t already been devoured by the Heartless…

“You love that girl, don’t you?” a woman’s voice crooned from the darkness. 

He tensed to the taunt and bit his lip to keep silent. She would not threaten Kairi!

“Don’t you, Riku? But she doesn’t love you…”

“Shut up!” he shouted, rising to the bait against his will. “Kairi is my princess!”

The woman chuckled. “Then it will trouble you greatly to learn of her fate.”

Riku’s heart lurched. “What… what happened to Kairi?”

“You told me to shut up,” the woman laughed. 

“Tell me!” Riku shouted.

“That prince, Sora of Disney Castle, has eaten her heart in an attempt to reclaim his own.”

“NO!” Riku shouted, struggling against the unseen force that held him. “You’re lying!”

“I assure you, I am not. At this moment, his Keyblade is absorbing her heart into itself. She will become like Sora, but Sora will thrive. That was what he always wanted and needed—a soft heart that he could devour.”

“Liar!”

“What you believe doesn’t change anything…”

“Shut up!”

“Your Kairi is but a shell now, empty of her heart and soul.”

“You shut up!”

“You’re such a vulgar boy.”

For a moment, Riku panted, trying to catch his breath. Was that possible? Had Sora eaten Kairi’s heart? He hadn’t liked the boy initially, but was coming to like him as time went by, especially after seeing him dive to save Kairi and the fear in his face. Was this all possible?

“Well…”

“What can I do to save her?”

“You’d betray the Keybearer?”

“I don’t care… As long as it means getting Kairi’s heart back, back from that… monster!”

In the darkness, the woman grinned fiercely, pressing her sharp fingers to her lips. Yes, puppet, come into the darkness and vanish forever.

…

Goofy and Donald were alone in the next world, having been rudely deposited very alone, just standing there, waiting. The moment before the Heartless could have devoured them all, Sora had locked the world by grabbing Kairi’s hand desperately, his mouth falling open in silent a cry. It didn’t seem to have saved the world from destruction, but it had transported them to safety… or so it seemed. Or so they hoped at least. Either way, they were alone, but it didn’t make sense for the others to be sent to another world. If they just waited a little longer…

“Do you think they’ll show up?” Goofy asked Donald, his voice quiet.

“I don’t know.”

They waited for their prince, Kairi, and Riku to arrive. After several minutes, there was a flash of bright light and then Sora and Kairi were dumped in a heap before them. Sora’s blue eyes had an uncharacteristic brightness to them and he glanced around alertly, tightening his grip on his Keyblade. Kairi, though, was unconscious, her eyes rolled back in her head and her heart beating wildly.

“She’ll be okay right?” Goofy asked Donald, voice dropping.

“I don’t know.”

Goofy started a small fire because darkness was falling and the four of them sat waiting together with Sora feeding twigs into the fire and Kairi laid out neatly on a pallet of pine needles and leaves, but Riku never arrived. He was lost to the darkness.

**X:X:X**

(1) Four of these lines are from Florence and the Machine’s song, “Heavy,” which is the theme for this story, if anyone remembers.

Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW!


	22. The Beast's Castle

Yow, more of the same “HOLY DIALOGUE BATMAN!”

**X:Beast’s:X:Castle:X**

Belle peered into the mirror, brushing some chocolate tresses that had escaped her braid out of her face. “You think that’s them?” she asked Beast, who was standing to her left with his thick arms folded unhappily across his chest. “Well? Don’t make that face.”

“I can protect you,” he growled.

She smiled lightly and lifted her eyes from the mirror to meet the monster’s deep gaze. In a way, she supposed her beast was a little like the Keybearer. A small part of Beast had been eaten by the Heartless, but he was still kind and full of life. In that way, Beast was nothing like Sora. “I know you can, but you heard King Mickey. We need to do what we can to help them and if I am what he says I am, then I have to go.”

“Then I’ll go with you,” he said firmly.

Belle reached out and touched his chest, touched the faint scars that bisected his hairy chest. The Heartless had clawed him open and taken a bite of him. “I know you will,” she whispered. “You’re always with me and I’m always with you, too.”

The silvery face of the mirror that Belle and Beast used for communication glowed brightly for a moment and then went dark. Beneath the glass dome was a small slab of pink-white marble inscribed with what the king had called a Claddagh mark and the swirling rose-like pattern that was the keyhole. These precious objects were all that was left connecting Beast’s Castle to the outside worlds. This was a strange place too, surrounding the great stronghold were countless independent little villages that successfully fought back the small tides of Heartless. Most of the dark army’s energies were focused on trying to get into Beast’s Castle to devour the world’s heart, but that was something Beast would never allow to happen.

Belle cupped his face. “We should go to meet them, don’t you think?”

He grudgingly nodded, hating to admit that he needed anyone’s help to protect his love and his world. “What about her?” He angled his head at the refugee they had taken on—a princess from another world, Cinderella of the Castle of Dreams. “Should we bring her?”

“There’s no need,” Belle said. “We’re coming back.”

Beast nodded. Then, he gathered his love up in his strong arms, lifted her onto the safety of his shoulders where she gripped him tightly with her thighs and arms, and flexed his dangerous claws. “Let’s go,” he snarled out and then gave a ferocious battle roar.

“Yes,” Belle murmured and felt the power glowing in her heart. “Let’s go.”

…

Kairi was still unconscious, crying out in her sleep, with Sora’s face bent worriedly over her when the horrible roar split the silence of the forest. Donald an Goofy were instantly on their feet, weapons drawn. Could it be a Heartless? Could it be Riku, his heart devoured? Sora didn’t move from his position, staring down into Kairi’s closed eyes. The roar came against, followed by the shriek of Heartless. Then, all was deathly quiet.

“What was that?” Goofy whispered, peeking around his shield.

“I don’t know,” Donald whispered back, summoning crackling lightning to the end of his staff.

“Sora, will you please come over here?” Goofy called to the prince and then asked Donald, “What if it’s Heartless? Kairi is…”

“I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” the mage said shortly and focused his eyes on the direction the roaring had come from. 

Behind them, Sora didn’t move save to reach out and brush some of Kairi’s blood-colored hair from her face. 

The thick briar bushes began to rustle to their left and both of King Mickey’s men (if a duck and a dog could be called that) turned to face the new threat. They would protect the Keybearer and the Princess of Heart to the bitter end.

The first to emerge from the brush was a frightening monster. It was a hulking sort of wolfish creature standing up on two bent legs with thick arms ending in dangerous claws. The monster was dressed in the torn and ragged clothing of a prince with a thick purple brocade cloak and tattered trousers. It was completely covered in thick wiry hair and the black blood of the Heartless. It’s fierce black eyes focused on Donald and Goofy and then slid to Sora and Kairi beyond them.

“Hello all,” a sweet voice said cheerfully.

Startled, Donald and Goofy’s heads both snapped up and a young woman who was perched on this frightening monster’s right shoulder, clutching his cloak tightly in one hand so she wouldn’t fall off. The beast dipped it’s head so she could put her feet on the ground and she hopped off happily. She was a lovely young woman with thick chocolate-colored tresses wound in an easy yet somehow elaborate hairstyle to keep it out of her face. Her bright brown eyes focused on them nicely as she brushed off her light blue skirt and white apron spattered with dark blood.

“Who are you?” Donald asked. “And what is that?”

The beast snarled and Donald leaped back, diving behind Goofy for shelter.

“Gawrsh, sorry,” Goofy said and took off his hand kindly. “I’m Goofy. That’s Donald, Sora, and Kairi. Now, would you tell us who you are?”

The young woman laughed lightly. “I’m Belle and this is Prince Adam (1), now known as Beast because of the Heartless.”

“Because of the Heartless?” Goofy repeated.

She nodded. “Yes. They ate a part of his heart, but I’ve been doing my best to restore it.”

“You can restore his heart?” Donald asked, perking immediately with a glance at Sora.

“It seems so,” she said with a faint proud smile and touched Beast’s clawed hand. “Now, please, we don’t have much time before the Heartless are upon us. Please, follow us back through the army and into the castle where we can talk.”

“You mean you plan to walk right through the army of Heartless?” Goofy gasped.

“Yes,” she said softly. “Don’t worry. Beast and I can hold them back. All you must do is follow quickly.”

“Well, alright.”

Belle glanced at Kairi, lying with her hands folded neatly as if dead. “Your companion? Is she alright?”

“We’re not sure. She’s been unconscious for a while,” Goofy ventured.

“I’ll see what I can do when we reach the castle. Please, carry her and follow quickly,” Belle said and turned back to Beast expectantly. The beast dipped his head and Belle climbed back onto his shoulder, holding on tightly. “Let’s go, Adam.”

The beast let out another mighty roar, lifted his claws, and charged through the foliage. Donald gave a squawk to Goofy and Goofy turned sharply to grab Kairi and Sora, only to find that Sora had already gently hefted Kairi onto his shoulder, piggy-back style, and his bright blue eyes were looking at them both expectantly. Goofy waved to them and Sora joined him, pulling abreast quickly. Sora was so different. Why was he so different?

“Let’s go!” Donald shouted. “We’re falling behind.”

“Follow me,” Goofy said to Sora.

The prince’s head dipped in a small nod of understanding that had Goofy so flabbergasted that Donald had to call him again. Then, the lagging foursome caught up with Belle and Beast’s lead. Coupled against Sora’s new attitude, the sight they came across was even stranger. 

Belle, still seated atop Beast’s shoulder, was somehow pushing the Heartless back like they were a tide of black water and she was the breaking rock. Her mouth was slightly open, a strange humming cry escaping her, and her head angled back so that the wind caught at her rippling hair. She had both hands pressed over her heart, but streaming out from between her fingers and beneath her palms was a bright light akin to that that came from Sora’s Keyblade when he locked the world. Suddenly, she spread her hands and a giant beam of light shot from her chest and carved the path straight through the Heartless all the way to the castle gates. Blasted backwards, there was a clear path. 

Beast got them to the gates within seconds, tore them open, ushered everyone in, and then slammed then in the face of the Heartless army. Then, he gently set Belle on her feet. Whatever she had done, it appeared to had tired her because she was breathing hard, but was otherwise unwinded.

“We’re safe,” she breathed.

“How did you do that?” Donald demanded.

“I’m one of the seven Princesses of Heart,” she said as if that explained everything.

Donald lifted a brow. 

“I guess you don’t know that much about it, do you? That’s alright. We can explain everything now. Let’s go into the castle,” Belle said and took Beast’s clawed hand. “This way. We’ll go into the West Wing and contact King Mickey.”

“The king?!” Donald and Goofy shouted in unison. With all that had happened, they had almost completely forgotten about their king. Oh man, were they ever in trouble now!

Belle led them deep into the heart of the castle, past many inanimate objects that were… well, rather animate. Why had all the castle furnishing come to life? As if reading their thoughts, Belle answered softly, “It didn’t used to be this way. They all used to be human but the Heartless devoured them. I was able to get their hearts back and store them in household objects, but I have been unable to discover a way to get their heart back into their bodies. I haven’t even been able to find their bodies.”

“And you can do all this why?”

“Because I am a Princess of Heart.”

Donald sighed heavily. This girl didn’t give up answers easily. 

Finally, they reached the tower room of the west wing of the castle and Belle handed Goofy a beautiful silver mirror. Beneath the glass case beside the mirror was the keyhole. At least that would be easy to find and lock once Kairi came around. One less thing to do. Blankly, he looked from her face to his own in the mirror until she chuckled lightly and took the mirror back from him.

“Show me King Mickey,” she told the mirror firmly.

The face of the mirror glowed brightly for a moment and then King Mickey’s worried face appeared on the glass surface. “Belle, were you able to find them?”

“See for yourself,” Belle said and angled the mirror around so he could see the assembly of his most precious people. 

“Where is Riku?” King Mickey asked. “He’s not with you?”

Goofy lowered his eyes. “We seem to have lost him. He was with us in the last world, but it was overrun by Heartless and at the last moment, Sora locked the world and transported us to safety, but Riku wasn’t with us when we arrived.”

Donald elbowed him.

“Even Sora and Kairi were late in their arrival. We waited for him as long as we could,” Goofy finished.

“I see,” King Mickey said softly. “And how is Sora?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, King Mickey,” Donald broke in. “He seems almost to be… coming back around. He responds to commands and he even saved Kairi from falling to her death. It’s as if he’s… recovering his heart.”

“And Kairi?”

They glanced at the unconscious girl, her dark hair streaming over Sora’s shoulder like a stain of blood. Sora’s bright eyes were on them closely, watching with cat-like intensity. 

“She’s… unconscious.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re not sure. She was like that when she arrived in this world after us with Sora.”

“Her heart…?”

“I don’t think so,” Goofy said. “It’s very strange.”

Silence reigned between them for a moment, Bell gently angling the mirror so the king could see his son and Kairi. They heard Minnie gasp in the background somewhere and begin to cry. Sora’s eyes shifted, focusing in on the mirror and the sound as if in understanding. Minnie only cried harder. Was it happiness?

“Did Princess Aurora of Enchanted Dominion arrive there yet?” Donald asked finally.

“Yes,” King Mickey said. “Her and her owl, Phillip, arrived safe and sound and carried news of your travels. I immediately contacted all the remaining worlds asking them to be on the lookout for you and allow you to contact me if you should happen to arrive there.” He paused and then asked, “Tell me what you are planning to do.”

“Well, your highness, we discovered that Sora can lock the worlds to protect them from the Heartless. We’ve been locking worlds and also are trying to search for and gather the seven Princesses of Heart,” Donald explained. “So far we have only come across Aurora, Belle, and Kairi, of course.”

“You can add one more to that number,” Belle broke in. “Adam, if you would.”

The beast lumbered off.

“What do you mean?”

“We recently took on a refugee from the Castle of Dreams, Cinderella is also a Princess of Heart like me,” Belle explained. “I’m glad that you have found Aurora and gotten her to a safe place. Enchanted Dominion was a dangerous world.”

“Do you know Aurora?” Donald asked.

“Only in passing,” Belle explained. “We communicated through the mirror. She offered to come in a gummi-ship to pick myself and Cinderella up to bring us to Disney Castle, but we wanted to wait for you.”

“So, we’ve found four of the seven Princesses,” Goofy remarked. “Only three to go… That’s not so bad.”

“But there are so many worlds they could be on,” Belle reminded him softly. “It has only been dumb luck that has guided you this far.”

Goofy visibly deflated. 

Beast came back into the room followed by a young blonde woman wearing a dress identical to that of Belle’s. Had her clothes been ruined in the journey from Castle of Dreams to here? She had fair golden hair and big blue eyes that were dark with sadness and the travelers recalled what the women in Castle of Dreams had said—that Cinderella’s prince had been killed. More pain from this war between the darkness and the light.

“I am Ella (2),” the young woman said and curtsied low. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Belle?” King Mickey called.

“Yes?”

“After your world is locked, you will allow Aurora to bring you here to Disney Castle, won’t you?”

“Yes. I want to help fight the darkness. Adam will, of course, accompany me.”

“Of course,” Mickey said with a nod. “And you, Ella?”

“I will do whatever I can to avenge my Charming (3),” Ella said fiercely, her blue eyes lighting with fire.

Mickey nodded again. “Goofy, Donald, Sora, and Kairi will continue to travel the worlds in search of the other princesses,” he continued. “Is there anything you can give them so they can contact me, Belle? Any sort of radio?”

“The mirror,” Belle said quietly. “It will work anywhere. All you must do to use it is tell it who you wish to see.”

“Would you be willing to give it to them, Beast?” King Mickey asked.

The beast nodded.

“Thank you.” King Mickey pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Um, your highness, how is Disney Castle?” Donald asked.

“Perfect. It couldn’t be better,” King Mickey said. “Since being locked by Sora, the Heartless haven’t been able to land in mass numbers even on the other side of the river and they still cannot cross.”

“You should be careful. While we were in Enchanted Dominion, he Heartless started growing wings so they could fly over the wall. They’re evolving,” Donald explained.

“Aurora told me and we have had that problem, but the archers made quick work of everything they have tried.”

“Then everything’s alright…” Donald sighed. 

“For now,” King Mickey said. “I’ve lost contact with several worlds that had been going strong. Even Halloween Town, which has never been breached. I’ve lost all communications with Jack Skellington completely. Leon says he has heard nothing about refugees from other worlds lately either. It’s as if the darkness is focusing on snuffing out those remaining unlocked worlds. You must hurry, Donald, Goofy, and guide Sora as best you can.”

“We understand.”

“Belle, Beast, Ella, I await your arrival,” King Mickey said. Then, his visage faded from the mirror. 

Belle wrapped the mirror in the stained fabric of her apron, slipped it into a leather satchel, and handed it to Goofy. “You will never lose sight of your friends now,” she said with a smile. “We depend on you.” She pressed her hand to her chest and the light swelled beneath her palm. “The strength of my heart is with you.”

Ella folded her hands over her own breast, eyes sliding closed. “And mine as well.”

“How are you doing that?” Donald asked. “And earlier, how did you use your heart as a weapon?”

Belle smiled faintly. “Princesses of Heart have hearts of pure light. That’s why the Heartless want us so badly and why we can stop them. It’s also how I fight them off though I’m not sure exactly how it happens. I feel the beating of my heart and wish from the bottom of my soul that the Heartless would go away and that beam of light just comes out of my chest.”

“Can all the Princesses do that?”

“I’m not sure, but Ella and I both can,” Belle explained and nodded to her friend. “Tell them.”

“When I use my heart, an orbs surrounds me and it only keeps the Heartless back behind the walls of that orb. I can’t do anything nearly as powerful as Belle’s blast.”

“Can your Kairi do that?” Belle asked.

“We don’t know,” Goofy confessed.

“I do hope she’ll be alright,” Ella murmured.

“We should be going,” Beast broke in. “Belle, let’s go.”

“Yes,” she said with a nod. “You will lock our world so it is safe for our friends?”

Donald nodded.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Then, Beast led the two Princesses of Heart from the tower room. Alone, Donald and Goofy turned to Sora who was still holding Kairi on his back. She was still unconscious, but even so, Sora lifted his Keyblade and the world locked just as it should. In a blast of hot brightness, they were spirited away.

**X:X:X**

(1) Well, my Disney junkies, who knew that Beast’s actual name was Adam?

(2) Who (besides Eolhcsullivan452 who pointed it out to me) knew that Cinderella’s name is really just Ella?

(3) Cinderella’s prince legitimately has no name other than Prince Charming.

Yes, I know Kairi was useless in this chapter, but it’s because she was busy. More on her and her busyness in the next chapter.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	23. The Strange Place: Don't Let Me Fall!

Well now, four Princesses of Heart down and three to go. Who do you think I will choose to replace Alice? We’ve got Aurora, Cinderella, Belle, and Kairi so far. I need…

**X:The:X:Strange:X:Place:X**

A hot wind buffeted her and Kairi recognized her surroundings after a moment of staring helplessly around. It was the ruined island, she realized when the distant zsash-zsash of the sea reached her ears and she smelled the tang of rusting metal and dusty decay on the wind. 

This time, she did not call out or look for Sora. She knew that she hadn’t been dumped in a new world, alone. Somehow, this was a place she carried inside her. Instead, she slipped the heavy leather best from her body, already sweating in the hot island weather, and walked through the stained sand towards the small town she knew was hidden behind the forest of high rattling palm trees. The fronds sounded like bare bones clacking together.

Kairi hurried. 

She knew where she was going, to which house, to see the white face in the upstairs window again, to see that small screaming body thrown through the glass. She didn’t know where she was or what this place was, but she was determined to help in any way she could. She had been brought here for a reason.

The street was the same as before. The houses were ramshackle, decaying, falling down in places, all covered in peeling paint like flesh. The yards were browned, littered with the refuse of an era and a life forgotten. The windows were boarded over, broken, smeared with dust. Wind chimes clattered and cried in some far reach of this forgotten place. Sand had gathered in the corners. Somehow, this place seemed even more decayed and forgotten than it had been when Kairi first found herself here.

Somewhere, there was a crash and the same black cat came slinking out of the shadows. It regarded Kairi closely, seeming to recognize her for it did not hiss.

Kairi crouched down. “Do you know why I’m supposed to be here, kitty?”

The cat’s bright yellow eyes flashed down the street and it’s ears swiveled back and forth, hearing something Kairi could not. A moment later, the soft dejected cry of suffering reached her ears. The cat arched its back, hissed fearfully as if sensing the approach of a predator, gave Kairi one last glance, and took off into the ruins of a house to her left.

Kairi remembered that cry. She jumped to her feet and raced down the street to the house she had seen in her earlier visit. She was going to do whatever she could to help. The fence was white picket, broken jaggedly, and the porch was dangerously broken in the middle like a yawning mouth filled with crooked teeth. She grabbed the bent metal knob of the front door, put her shoulder against it, and pushed her way into the house. 

The darkness was absolute, but the cry came again from somewhere beneath her. How was that possible? She had seen someone thrown from the upstairs window before. Either way, she explored quickly for a door that would lead her downstairs. She found a narrow concrete staircase and descended quickly, grabbing at the bare walls to keep her balance when she stumbled. Finally, the staircase opened into a wide concrete bunker that was much larger and deeper than she had expected. 

In one corner, there was a yawning black pit. Standing at its edge were two people. The one at the mouth of the pit, so close, was young boy small and slender and half-naked. The man standing just behind him was larger with a barrel chest and fully dressed in the cold of the bunker. The youth was shivering, arms stretched out over the gaping hole with a small mewling kitten clutched in trembling fingers.

Kairi put her hand to her mouth. Were they going to drop the kitten into that pit? 

“Do it,” the larger man hissed. It was a man’s voice, ugly and mean. “Drop it.”

“Stop!” Kairi screamed.

It was as if they didn’t hear her. They didn’t even turn.

“Do it,” the man repeated cruelly.

The young boy in front of him let out a heartbroken sob akin to the cry Kairi had heard, grip tightening on the kitten. The small baby lifted its head and looked into this person’s face, mewling slightly in fear and maybe pain. It was then that she saw the bigger man had a knife pressed into the youth’s bloodied naked back. The flesh there was already deeply gouged and bleeding freely.

“Drop it in.”

“Stop!” Kairi shouted and dashed into the room fully. She grabbed for the man’s arm, but her fingers passed through him without causing anything to change. She stumbled wildly, reeling away from the edge of the yawning pit, and grabbed against the cold wall. “What?” she breathed. “What’s going on here?”

Who was the ghost here? Her or these people?

“Drop it in,” the man snarled and pushed the knife in hard, raking and digging into the white flesh. 

The boy sobbed harder, face dropping to be hidden by dark brown hair.

“Fine,” the man breathed out in rage.

Then, he grabbed the boy by his hair, yanked his head back hard, and shoved him forward all in the same motion. Another sharp cry escaped the youth as one of his feet stretched out desperately for purchase over the yawning mouth of empty air. The only thing holding him from falling into that pit was the man’s grip on his hair and his other foot just barely resting on solid ground. In his fear, he had drawn the kitten close against his bleeding chest.

“Drop in the kitten, Sora, or you go in.”

Kairi’s heart lurched painfully, that fear bubbling up inside her chest again just like when she had been climbing the vines in the jungle. She could hardly breathe and the world around her began to tilt and whirl wildly as if afflicted by vertigo (1).

Unknown staggering fear of heights… 

Was this Sora’s past she was seeing? His torment, his fear? What made his heart so heavy? 

It must have been. The Sora she saw here was so young and frail, his face untouched by the threads of darkness that marred him now. He looked about six or seven, half-starved, shivering wildly, and his face was twisted in terror. This was the Sora who still had his heart, the Sora before the Heartless even touched the worlds, the Sora whose heart was too heavy to carry. He was still clutching the small mewling kitten to his naked chest, holding it tightly, protecting it.

“Drop in the kitten or you go in,” the man repeated and pushed Sora farther out over the pit.

Sora desperately leaned back, a cry of fear escaping.

The knife was added to the mix, slithering up Sora’s ribbed side and digging in just beneath his heart. “Drop the kitten, Sora. This will be the last time I say it to you.”

For a moment, the man and Sora were standing there like that while Sora struggled to find a purchase for his foot. Then, his arms trembling wildly and his face chalk-pale in horror, he held the kitten over the gaping pit. Kairi saw his thumbs stroke the fur softly, his eyes squeeze shut, and his mouth move in silent apology. Then, he dropped the kitten.

“No!” Kairi shouted, but she was still unheard and unable to touch anything taking place around her. “No!”

The screaming mewl of the kitten could be heard as if fell for what felt like an eternity, cries echoing against the stone walls. Then, there was a terrible crushing splat when the kitten finally reached the bottom of the pit. Only then, after the death finished echoing, did the man allow Sora to step back from the edge of the pit and onto solid ground. Sora dropped to his knees immediately, his head touching the floor, and his back shook with sobs.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” the man asked. He grasped Sora’s chin and pulled the boy’s face up to look into his mean expression. “Tomorrow, maybe you could do it again, faster.”

Sora sobbed, trying to pull his face away. 

“When it becomes too much for you, Sora. You can always throw yourself in. Wouldn’t you like to fall for that long and lie splattered at the bottom until I decide to scrape your rotten corpse out?”

“Please… please… don’t do this anymore…”

“Why not?”

“Th-they’re just kittens…”

“How very true,” the man remarked and there was something in his voice that made Sora cringe back. “Tomorrow, Sora, I’ll bring you a real treat to throw in. If you want, you can even play with it before I make you push it into the pit.” Then, he released Sora’s chin.

The young boy immediately buried his face down against the cold concrete floor, shivering and whimpering. 

The man barked a laugh, walked up the stairs, and Kairi heard the door slam. Heartbroken, she slid down the wall and just stared at this young hurting Sora. He was so beaten, scarred, and bloody with this terror of height and darkness being ingrained into his very soul. After a long moment of watching him sob at the mouth of the pit, she found her legs and crawled slowly to his side. Carefully, she laid her hand on his bloodied back, wincing as she passed through his body. 

Maybe, in a way, they were both ghosts.

“Sora,” she breathed out, stroking his back as best she could even though he couldn’t feel it. “I’m so sorry. How could this happen to you?”

This close to the pit, she could smell blood—the kitten’s blood.

Kairi pressed her hand over her mouth and nose. “How horrible…”

Sora shuddered beneath her hand, sobbing harder and digging his ragged nails into the concrete.

“What will he make you do tomorrow?” she whispered, but she didn’t want to know. 

Was this why his heart was so heavy? Because of what this man was doing to him? Tormenting him over the yawning mouth of the black pit, forcing him to throw in kittens or die himself? It was the most horrible thing for a child to go through. Kairi draped her body against Sora’s but her own form was as ephemeral as a ghost’s and he didn’t notice her presence at all. There was nothing she could do to help him here. She could only watch.

…

If the night was long for Kairi but it must have been longer for Sora. He slept on the ice-cold floor without blankets or pillows, shivering in his half-naked state. His bare chest was pebbled with goose flesh and he had clenched his small hands into fists in an attempt to keep his fingers warm. All night, he laid there and the tears coursed from his eyes in silent agony. When he did chance to drift off to sleep, he was plagued with visible nightmares. He cried out and tossed and fought some invisible enemy. Then, he woke with a sharp cry, panting for desperate breath. His cerulean eyes would always slide to the dark pit, then he would roll over so that his back was to it, and lay there shivering until he happened to nod off again.

Kairi wished there was something she could do to help him, but there was nothing.

The next morning, maybe… if it was morning… Sora was woken by a sharp scream from somewhere overhead. Kairi watched him, her heart aching, while he pressed himself into a corner and pulled his legs tightly to his chest, wrapping his arms around them tightly and hiding his face.

“Sora,” the man’s voice called, cruelly sing-song over the sound of screams. “Look what I brought you.”

Clutched in one hand by her scrawny wrists was a two or three-year-old girl-child. Her pretty chubby face was swollen from crying and she was screaming her lungs out, but no one was answering. Where was this child’s mother?

“Sora,” the man said again and pressed a knife to the child’s throat. “Come out or I’ll cut her.”

Sora crawled into view and Kairi saw his face streaked with tears and he was biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. The crimson was dripping down his chin slowly, splattering on the floor. “Please…” he whispered, his voice cracked and broken. “Don’t do this…”

“But Sora, it’s not a kitten.”

“Please…”

“You don’t want to throw your little sister to her death? Would you rather push Mommy?”

Sora shook his head, trembling. “Why are you doing this to us?”

“Darkness,” the man said. “I’m breeding darkness inside you. I wonder what the Keybearer will be like if he’s a useless pawn of the darkness.”

“Please, stop this…”

“Sora,” the little girl sobbed. “I wanna go to Mommy!”

“Shut up!” The man backhanded her cruelly.

Sora cried out as if it was him who had been hit. The man grabbed Sora by his upper arm, dragged him to his feet, thrust the little girl into Sora’s thin arms, and shoved them both towards the yawning pit. Sora dug in his heels, begging and pleading over the little girl’s screams of fear.

“Go ahead, Sora,” he crooned. “Just like the kitten.”

“No, please…”

He pressed the knife into Sora’s back. “You could go in, Sora.”

“I can’t do it…”

“Just give her a little push. It’ll be easier than the kitten. You don’t have to let go, you just have to push.”

“Please, don’t make me…”

The knife pressed in deeper, hot blood running down Sora’s white back. The youth gasped in pain, his fingers digging into his sister’s shoulders. “Push her in, Sora. Splat! Just like the kitten.”

“No…”

The little girl wailed.

In one swift movement, the man hook Sora’s arms around his little sister, grabbed Sora by the nape of his neck, and dangled them both over the edge of the pit. Sora made a choked sound and Kairi saw his arms tremble, clutching his little sister tightly.

“Do you know what nerve this is, Sora?”

“S-stop, pl-please…”

“It’s the nerve that puts strength into your arms. She feels so heavy, doesn’t she, Sora? Just drop her. Let her fall, just like the kitten.”

“D-don’t,” Sora choked. The veins in his throat were standing out. He was in agony, dangling by those fingers burning into his neck, further weighed by his little sister. “Please… st-stop it…”

“Drop her, Sora.”

The little girl sobbed, clawing at Sora’s arms. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t hold on to her. For what felt like eternity, Sora clung to her desperately, but she was slipping. His fingers and arms were numb, his neck throbbed, and he was hyper-aware of the deadly drop below them both—of the dead kitten moldering there. He closed his eyes, trying to will strength into his arms. 

It was then that his little sister slipped from his arms. She screamed, loud and heartbreaking, the entire way down, but when her body hit, she wasn’t dead. Sora could hear her sobbing, whimpering, crying out in the agony of her broken body. He could hear the death-rattle of her labored breath. He squeezed his eyes shut.

The man let him go.

A scream exploded from Sora—No, don’t let me fall!—but his body smashed into the concrete just beside the pit. That man had never intended to drop him into the pit of death and darkness, only scare him to death. Panting and trembling, Sora looked up into his face.

He laughed then, cruel and dark. “Stay here, Sora. Listen to her die and know that you’re the one who put her there. You couldn’t hold on.”

“No…”

But the man wasn’t listening. He just walked away and the door slammed overhead.

Sora was alone in the dark bunker, his back bleeding anew, with his little sister slowly dying in the bottom of the pit with the dead body of the kitten Sora had also been unable to hold onto. Quivering, Sora lay down beside the pit, hugging himself tightly. His fingers went to the mouth of the opening, creeping along like pale spiders, but his trembling increased and he pulled his hand back. It was too much. The fear was too much… Falling… Darkness… It was all too much!

**X:X:X**

(1) Vertigo is NOT the fear of heights. It is a dizzying sensation when standing still and can be brought on by something as simple as standing up from a sitting position. Acrophobia is the fear of heights.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	24. Agrabah: Pt I

Okay, who was mentally scarred for life by what happened to Sora? I’ll have you know I had to think long and hard about something traumatic that didn’t involve sex, rape, or flat-out beating. I’m trying to expand my dark horizons. Did I do good? Is everyone still scarred?

**X:Agrabah:X**

Kairi Sinclair woke with a start, a scream caught in her mouth. She clapped her hand over her mouth to keep the cry inside, panting between her fingers. Sora’s past… how horrible! The Keyblade had given that piece of Sora’s broken eaten heart to her, but why? Just to show her how hopeless he was or to torment her with those images for the rest of her life? What could she possibly do with his shattered soul? Why had she even ever thought that she could help him? Just because he responded to her?

“Ah!” Goofy’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Kairi’s awake!”

Donald squawked. “Let me see, Goofy!” The duck’s white face came into view, but he was very low and far away. Why was that?

“Sora, maybe you should put her down,” Goofy ventured. 

The world shifted and Kairi was gently set on her feet, one strong hand pressing against her back to steady her. Dizzy, she pressed a hand to her face and tried to shake off the vestiges of the memories of Sora’s heavy heart. Finally, her heart stopped pounding and aching and she could think straight.

“What happened?” she asked. “The last thing I remember is… Heartless…”

“Somehow, Sora locked the world and we were transported to safety,” Donald explained and quickly relayed for her everything that happened at Beast’s Castle. He emphasized Belle and Ella’s abilities to use their hearts as weapons as if suggesting she try it.

She turned to face Sora, still standing at her side and holding her hand tightly. Did he know that she, rather than the Keyblade, now held his heart in her chest? His cerulean eyes were bright and alert, focused in a way they never had been before. The right side of his face was swirled with pale darkness, almost like a scar, and her eyes followed the path that had once been completely stained the color of India ink. His hand, fingers closed tightly around the Keyblade’s golden hilt, was still stained with darkness, but the ugly claws on his fingertips were gone. In their place were rounded human fingernails. Maybe without the Keyblade holding the last remaining piece of his shattered heart, it would stop destroying him.

“Sora,” she breathed and her eyes filled with tears. God, she ached for him, for the things he had been through.

His eyes met hers and his mouth curved in a barely perceivable smile. Then, he released her hand and reach out to touch her face, stroking her hair lightly, as the smile faintly widened. His mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out. He wet his lips, closed his mouth, and stared up at her almost happily. Some emotion had returned to him, it seemed, or was that just his heart pressing so tightly against Kairi’s own?

Funny, she expected Riku to be protesting this, wondering what had happened to change Sora’s behavior and just generally watching over her as he always did, but it was silent in the peanut gallery.

Kairi turned her gaze away from Sora, looking for her best friend, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. She saw Goofy’s expression fall and darken and Donald looked sharply away. “Riku?” she whispered. “Where is Riku?”

For a moment, neither of them answered her.

“Gawrsh, Kairi,” Goofy forced out finally. “We don’t really know.”

“What?” she breathed.

“When we were in the Castle of Dreams and the world was destroyed, in that instant that Sora saved us, something weird happened. We landed first in the next world and nearly half an hour later, you and Sora arrived. Riku… we waited for him as long as we could, but he never came,” Donald said softly.

“Then Riku is…?”

Goofy lowered his eyes, soft and sad. “We don’t know, Kairi.”

Sora’s hand on her face became insistent, pressing against her cheek. She finally turned to face him, eyes filling with tears. Riku… her last treasured friend… was gone. Sora was like a child, smiling gently up at her with his hand pressed to her face securely. Then, once he was certain he had her attention, he pressed his hand over her heart, but Kairi wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to get out of that. Did he sense his heart inside her and long for it? Or was he saying that Riku lived on inside her?

Kairi folded her hand over his and choked back her tears. She had to avenge Riku.

…

The streets of the desert city were cluttered with activity. Venders were shouting their wares, children darted between legs, a camel spit unhappily while his owner tried to drag him forward, young woman beckoned from the doorway of the harem. There was even a young woman wearing live exotic birds like clothing, offering a beautiful jade-green parrot to them as they passed. Guards with giant swords strolled the streets, watching over everything. There didn’t seem to be any signs of Heartless activity here. 

Maybe it was the ungodly heat that kept them at bay.

It must have been one hundred and fifteen degrees.

Kairi was sweating in her leather vest and long trousers, heavy boots and blouse. Her pale skin was beginning to freckle and burn. She was holding her thick hair off the back of her neck with one hand and leading Sora along with the other. Goofy had lifted his shield over his head like an incredibly heavy sunshade. Donald was just sloughing along beside them. Apparently feathers were much cooler than clothing. Sora and Donald were the only ones who seemed unaffected by the heat, but sweat was rolling down Sora’s pale face.

“Where are we going?” Goofy panted.

“I don’t know,” Kairi confessed. “I was looking for the castle keep.”

“Well, maybe we should ask for directions,” Goofy suggested.

“Never a bad idea,” Kairi agreed and managed to duck under the trailing sleeves of a well-dressed vendor, squeeze around the sword-eater, and tap one of the guards on the shoulder. “Excuse me. We seem to have gotten lost. Can you point me in the direction of the castle?”

The guard eyed her. He was rather face and he looked nearly fainting in the heat, but he answered nicely enough. “Just keep going straight through the marketplace until you reach the bazaar. The palace gates are right there.” He glanced at Sora whose eyes were brightly focused on everything going on around him in a small state of awe. “This must be the prince.”

Kairi’s eyes widened. “You know of us?”

“Of course. The sultan has been looking for a suitor for his daughter for months now. Good luck marrying that one off,” the guard snapped. “She’s a tigress.”

Kairi sighed. So King Mickey must not have been able to contact all the worlds. Maybe this one was out of communication, off the grid, so to speak. She thanked the guard and hustled back to Goofy and Donald with their new directions.

Suddenly, there was a vicious shout of, “Stop, thief! Stop him!”

Kairi turned her head in the direction of the shout just in time to be collided into by a young man about her own age. He was skinny, wearing a worn fez and vest with his thick onyx hair feathered against his tanned cheeks. He glanced up at her desperately, loaf of bread and small knife clutched in his hands. There was a small money slinging to his shoulder, chattering loudly as if in panic. He mumbled a small apology and tried to dart around them. Sora grabbed him suddenly, those eyes as bright as lanterns.

“Wha—let me go!” the youth protested.

The guards charged up to their group, but Goofy quickly closed ranks around Sora and the young thief. Kairi stood her ground firmly, staring down the guards until the five of them came to a complete stop in front of her.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“That boy is a thief!” one of the guards shouted.

“What did he steal?”

“Bread! Supplies are short! It needs to go to families!”

Well, there was the Heartless’s influence on the world. It seemed while others were being overrun, this one was starving. Kairi once again wished she could do something to help. Starving was the worst imaginable. There had been a time when Hollow Bastion had run out of food and far too many people had starved before her father and mother could lay hands on supplies.

She pulled the small jeweled knife Yuffie had given to her, keeping the one from Riku stowed safely in her belt. “Here. I’m sure this covers one loaf of bread, right?”

“Well… yes…”

“Then I think we’re finished here, aren’t we?” Kairi asked.

The guards nodded and shuffled off down the crowded street.

The boy tucked his arms in as if shrinking in on himself. He tucked the monkey silently inside his vest, hiding it away with the bread and knife. “You didn’t have to do that,” he whispered.

Kairi put her hand on his shoulder, guiding Sora’s tight grip from the youth’s elbow. “What’s your name?”

“Aladdin,” he said softly.

“Come with us for a little while, Aladdin, to repay me for my knife,” Kairi said softly.

His dark eyes lit inside. “Why?”

She didn’t know why. She just new she wanted him to stay with them for a little while longer. She felt like if she let him out of her sight… something bad was going to happen. Sora’s eyes found her face, bright and strange, and she realized that he must have felt it too. Aladdin read something in their expressions and nodded. The six of them walked towards the bazaar and Kairi laid her hand over the knife Riku had give her. Did she want Aladdin to stay with them to fill the aching gap where Riku should have been? But he was no replacement.

“Are you going to the palace?” Aladdin asked them.

“Yes.”

He glanced at Sora. “Are you another suitor for the princess?”

“No,” Kairi said truthfully. “Sora’s the Keybearer. We came from Disney Castle.”

“The Keybearer?” Aladdin whispered. “I wish…”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said darkly.

Kairi spoke to the guards at the palace gates and they were allowed passage inside to see the sultan and the princess. It seemed that this guise of suitor was working rather well. They walked right in, hardly any questions asked, even though they were dragging the street-rat Aladdin in tow.

Inside, the sultan was a small round man waiting to greet them. He had clearly fallen on hard times, his hair snow-white, but he didn’t even glance their way when they walked in. He just kept staring straight ahead, his expression blank and sad. Kairi swept into a small bow and the others, sans Sora, followed suit, but even then the sultan didn’t appear to even notice that they existed. Was he blind? Or deaf? Or both? It was clear something was wrong with him and it was even more apparent when he began to play with small tinker toys, stacking them higher and higher.

“He’s not well,” a young woman’s voice rang out through the vaulting marble chambers.

Kairi turned and saw immediately that this young woman was another Princess of Heart. The Claddagh mark on her chest was almost the same color as her caramel-colored skin, but it was very clear. She was wearing teal-colored harem pants and a top that was barely there, exposing her bared midriff and hugging the swell of her breasts with the straps falling down her shoulders. Over her face, she wore a light veil that covered her face from the bridge of her nose downward and there was a thickly woven canvas scarf of dark green wound around her shoulders. Her blue-black hair hung to her waist in a curtain, tied neatly in three places with teal ribbons, and her bright amber eyes were sharp and clever. She carried a long jeweled scimitar in one hand, heavy and dangerous. Just behind her walked a fantastic orange and red tiger with hard eyes. She held out a hand to it.

“Rajah, it’s alright. Who are you?” the young woman asked.

“I am Princess Kairi Sinclair. This is Prince Sora of Disney Castle, Goofy, and Donald. And this is… Aladdin,” she introduced.

“Jasmine,” the young woman said with a small nod. Then, she cut her eyes to Sora. “Please tell me you’re not here as a suitor, Prince Sora.”

Sora turned his eyes from Kairi’s face to Jasmine’s and his eyes fell on the Claddagh mark and lit up. Kairi grabbed his hand before he could charge forward and do anything strange to Jasmine. They didn’t need the Keybearer gutted because he had no concept of personal space and this princess clearly had space issues.

“We’re not. Sora is the Keybearer.”

“Why doesn’t he answer me? Is he mute?”

Kairi hesitated. “In a way…”

Jasmine eyed them and her eyes were the same hard bright amber as the tiger’s. Then, she pulled down her veil. The side of her face was slashed with three jagged scars. “Those Heartless beasts,” she said by way of explanation. Then, she unwound the scarf from her throat and shoulders and revealed more scars. “Lately, they’ve been after me very badly. I was hoping King Mickey’s son and his merry band would be able to tell me a little bit of what’s going on here. I have this important mark and I’d like to help.”

Kairi nodded. “Of course. We’ll tell you everything we know.”

…

It didn’t take them long to explain to Jasmine everything they knew because when King Mickey had contacted all the other worlds he had already spoke with her. All Kairi had to explain was the basics—about the Keybearer and locking worlds, about the Princesses of Heart gathering at Disney Castle, to how they planned to somehow save the worlds. Jasmine was a very patient listener, asking no questions until they finished. Then, she explained to them about her father. His heart had finally broken under the stress of trying to keep Agrabah afloat and marry off his daughter. Jasmine was resigned that soon the Heartless would come for him like they had come for Kairi’s mother in her weakened state and she would have to kill her own father.

It was then that Donald elbowed Kairi fiercely and she yelped, glaring at him and rubbing her offended ribcage. The mage whispered to her about how Belle was able to use her strength of heart to restore the people of Beast’s Castle into inanimate objects, how she and Ella could even use their hearts as weapons against the darkness. He insisted with his expression that she at least give it try—to try to heal the heart of the sultan.

Kairi glanced at Jasmine’s soft sad face. 

The Arabian princess was fingering the scars on her face, shoulders, and throat, dark hair hiding her eyes. Then, she wound the scarf back over her throat and shoulders, hiding them, and mournfully fingered her sheer turquoise veil.

“I don’t want to get her hopes up,” Kairi whispered to Donald.

“Her hope is gone. Just try it,” he insisted.

Kairi sighed heavily and then murmured to Jasmine. “In the last world that we were in, Beast’s Castle, we came across two of the Princesses of Heart. Both were able to use their strong hearts as weapons against the Heartless and one was even able to restore the hearts of some of her people into inanimate objects.”

Jasmine’s blue eyes brightened. “Are you saying…?” she glanced at her father. 

“I’d like to try,” Kairi said with a small nod.

“Please, please do.”

Sora’s eyes were bright, fixed on Kairi and following her every move as she crossed the room to the sultan’s side, but he didn’t try to get up. Goofy was prepared to pull the prince back if necessary. Kairi knelt at the sultan’s small feet, pressed one hand over her racing heart, and laid the other on his chest. His heartbeat was slow, like he was comatose, and deep. Kairi closed her eyes and wondered what she was supposed to be doing here. She willed the sultan’s heart to heal, for her own to reach out to his, for Jasmine’s poor face to smile again.

But nothing happened.

“Was that it? Did something happen?” Jasmine asked eagerly.

Kairi sighed heavily and retracted her hands. “I don’t think so.”

“There should have been a bright light,” Donald told them.

“There wasn’t,” Goofy supplied uselessly.

“Oh,” Jasmine whispered. “Well, I thank you for trying.”

Kairi’s throat filled with stones. “You… you’re a Princess of Heart, Jasmine. Maybe you could… maybe I’m just not close enough to his heart.”

She shook her head. “No… I can’t…”

“I think you should try,” Aladdin broke in.

All eyes turned to him and his cheeks flushed bright red.

“Why?” Jasmine asked him, her face soft and strange.

“Because… I…” He glanced desperately at Kairi. “I just think you should.”

Jasmine stood up from her pillowed chair, leaning against her tiger as if she needed the support to remain on her feet. “Yes… I will then…” she whispered more to herself and Aladdin than anyone else. “I mean… what do I have to lose?” she asked with a small harsh laugh.

They watched her, five pairs of eyes watching the Arabian Princess of Heart close the space between herself and her father. 

Like Kairi had, Jasmine knelt at her father’s feet and the tiger sat behind her, long tail wrapping around her narrow bare waist. The claw marks that raked her neck and shoulders trailed down her back a ways, partially hidden by her swinging blue-black hair. She pressed her fingertips to the Claddagh mark on her chest, looking down at the mark for a moment. Then, she rested her head in her father’s lap, closing her eyes tightly. Kairi saw tears seep beneath her lids, shining, but the princess didn’t truly release her sorrow. 

Sora took a step forward, his eyes darting eagerly.

“Goofy,” Kairi whispered.

The head guard grasped Sora’s wrist and pulled him back to sit between them.

Beneath Jasmine’s fingertips, the Claddagh mark began to glow brightly. The light streamed out from between her fingers, swelled, and pulsed as if it had a heartbeat. It grew even brighter, bigger, and stronger until it formed a type of cloud around her and her father. Then, abruptly, it winked out and Jasmine was still kneeling at her father’s feet, panting for breath with her hand pressed to her chest tightly. Her breasts heaved over her low-cut top and the Claddagh mark was filled with bright light.

“Hurts…” she gasped.

Then, she passed out. The tiger slipped beneath her, holding her up so that her arm hung over the tiger’s strong back, but he couldn’t keep Jasmine from the hard floor. Aladdin quickly darted to their sides, heedless of the tiger and his gleaming fangs, and gathered Jasmine’s fallen body up in his arms. The tiger growled low in his chest, but stopped a moment later, his big head turning up to the sultan’s throne. 

The sultan shifted, creamy robes sliding lightly as he sat up. His bright eyes fixed on Jasmine and then the filthy young man cradling his unconscious daughter and the great tiger, Rajah, loyally at his daughter’s side. “Jasmine?” the sultan whispered.

Jasmine’s bright amber eyes flickered open. “Daddy…?”

**X:X:X**

Yo, I had to cut this off because it was getting waaaaaaay long.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	25. Agrabah: Pt II and Cave of Wonders?

Not very many people were mentally scarred. I must have done a bad job.

**X:Agrabah:X**

The sultan stared down at his daughter with his eyes wide and bright. Jasmine’s eyes slowly pulled open and she pushed herself upright, relying on Aladdin and Rajah for support and smiled up into her father’s happy face.

“Daddy… they were right. You’re okay!” Then, she leaped into his arms and hugged him tightly.

“Jasmine, what happened?” he asked softly, smiling.

Her eyes welled with tears that didn’t quite fall. They gleamed on her lashes like diamonds and she cupped her father’s pale face tightly in her caramel-colored hands. “They were right,” she breathed. “You’re okay. I brought your heart back to you,” she whispered. 

“Gawrsh,” Goofy whispered.

“I didn’t know if she’d be able to do it,” Donald remarked.

Kairi pressed her fingers over her own mark on her chest, over her heart.

Sora gazed at Jasmine, her father, and Aladdin. His eyes were bright and he ran his fingers down the Keyblade.

Suddenly, Jasmine turned and threw her arms around Aladdin’s neck, embracing him tightly. “You,” she whispered, “You did this. You told me to try…” Gently and quickly, she pecked his lips and then smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”

Aladdin’s face turned about eighteen different shades of pink and red.

Then, Jasmine turned back towards her father and hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek. He embraced her tightly and for a moment, nothing was said. The others sat back, watching the small exchange between father and daughter. Only Sora’s eyes didn’t turn away in respect. He just kept watching them closely, bright eyes focused on their loving embrace. Finally, Kairi gripped his chin and turned his gaze to her own. In his eyes, she saw nothing of the terror and torment he had suffered in his past. She began to wonder if it would be a good thing to try to give him his heart back. Really, would he want to remember the terrible things he had been through? The kitten, the pit, his sister? All the death?

“Young man,” the sultan said when he and Jasmine finally separated. “What did you say your name was?”

He hesitated. “Aladdin,” he said finally.

The sultan’s expression changed immediately. “I’ve heard of you, boy! You’re that street rat that’s always giving Razoul trouble! Boy, I should have you thrown in the dungeons!”

Aladdin flung himself backwards, but the tiger was still crouched at his side and he couldn’t get away. Rajah rumbled low in his massive chest, almost a growl, but it was hard to tell if he was siding with Aladdin or his mistress, Jasmine.

Sora’s eyes snapped away from Kairi’s and back to the scene at hand, focused intently on the exchange. Donald’s eyes narrowed and Kairi clutched her fingers tightly in the fabric of her trousers. Goofy was the only one who looked shocked and like he wanted to leap to Aladdin’s aid, but was silenced by a look from Donald. Kairi paused to wonder what Riku would have done in this situation.

“Father!” Jasmine said sharply. “This boy is the reason I was able to bring you back.”

The sultan’s eyes widened. “Oh? How is this?”

Quickly and efficiently, but with none of the flailing and fascinating movements that Jane used to tell a story, Jasmine explained to her father everything that had happened in the kingdom while he had been strangely indisposed by his broken heart. She explained what King Mickey had told her, the arrival of the mouse king’s son and merry friends, her own Claddagh mark and being a Princess of Heart, Kairi’s attempt, Aladdin’s protests and asking her to try, and the her own attempt to return her father’s heart. Like Jasmine, he listened patiently and without interrupting with any questions. Only when she finished did he respond.

The sultan turned to the street rat, Aladdin, and smiled. “My boy, thank you,” he said softly. “I will speak with Razoul and we will erase your past in the marketplace.”

Aladdin smiled faintly. “Thank you.”

Jasmine glanced at him. “With time, I trust you will also tell us why it is your are constantly stealing supplies.”

He bit his lip, but whispered, “I would like to…” The monkey’s small brown head peeked out of his vest and Aladdin pet its head gently. Jasmine’s tiger eyes them closely, his bright amber eyes the same shade as hers, but made no movement.

…

After that, Jasmine had invited them to stay for dinner—a bare meal of bread, cheese, and some sweetened water. Rajah lay at Jasmine’s feet and Aladdin snuck food into his vest for his monkey. Kairi had been initially afraid that Sora wouldn’t use his knife and fork, but he was only unresponsive, not completely stupid. (The knife and fork did give Donald quite a bit of trouble though, feathered fingers and all.) Overall, dinner was nice and gave way to pleasant conversation when they finished. Then, somehow, conversation got back to what Sora and company were really there for and the location of the keyhole.

“I have no idea,” Jasmine was saying when Kairi’s head came painfully out of he the memories of Sora’s aching past. “I haven’t seen anything like that around the palace. Have you seen anything in the marketplace, Aladdin?”

“Nothing like that,” he said with a small shake of his head.

“I bet,” the sultan said, gesturing with his fork, “something like that would be beneath the desert.”

“Oh great,” Donald muttered. 

“Gawrsh, we really don’t have time to sift through all the sand in the desert.”

The sultan shook his head. “No, no!” he explained. “I mean in the Cave of Wonders beneath the desert. A lot of important, ancient, and precious treasures are buried in that place. It would be a good place to keep the heart of our world.”

“The Cave of Wonders?” Kairi repeated.

The sultan nodded. “Jasmine, why don’t you tell them?”

“Because I don’t know much about it. I’ve never even seen it,” Jasmine said softly, looking at her father over folded long-fingered hands. “I didn’t really think it existed. In fact, I didn’t even know that you had seen it, Daddy.”

“When I was a boy, I saw it.”

“What’s it look like?” Jasmine asked.

“It’s fantastic,” the sultan said. “It’s a tiger’s head that lives in the sand and it’s always in the same place, but it won’t open for just anyone.”

“Open?”

“Yes, it’s yawning mouth opens up and you can walk down into the depths of this world,” the sultan explained.

“I’ve heard of that,” Aladdin ventured. “I’ve never seen it, though.”

“Not very many people have.”

“Do you think it will open for the Keybearer?” Kairi asked, glancing at Sora.

“I don’t know,” the sultan said softly.

“I suppose it’s worth a try,” Donald admitted. “We don’t have any place else likely to look for the keyhole.”

“So, how do we get to the Cave of Wonders?” Kairi asked.

There was a moment of silence (though not thick enough to be cut with a knife at least required a fork wielded by a persistent hand).

“What?” she repeated.

“Well, you don’t just walk up to where the Cave of Wonders is, knock on the tiger’s teeth, and ask to be let in. The Cave will only appear to you if you’re a person it deems worthy of entry,” the sultan explained to them. “When I saw it, it wasn’t opening for anyone. It was just looking up at the sky and when it noticed I was there, it sank beneath the sands.”

“Well,” Kairi said firmly. “We have to try. Jasmine and Aladdin, I do hope you’ll join us.”

Jasmine nodded. Aladdin hesitated a moment, looking at her, and then nodded as well. Kairi grinned to herself. It was plain to see that the young man had a crush on the princess. How cute! After that, they bid goodbye to the sultan and the six of them set off into the desert in search of the Cave of Wonders.

**X:Cave:X:of:X:Wonders:X:(Maybe):X**

It was hot and unbearably dry. The sand was whipped up in the hot wind, stinging all bared flesh. Sora whimpered, hugging his arms around his chest and clutching the Keyblade close. His eyes were watering from the grit because he didn’t have the sense of the others to hide his face with his hands. It was as if he didn’t understand the concept of stinging sand. Kairi had wrapped her leather vest around her head, Goofy hunkered behind his shield, Donald using magic to cover himself, Aladdin snarled up in his vest and arms, and Jasmine had wrapped all exposed flesh in her scarf. Behind them, having as much trouble as Sora, was Jasmine’s tiger, Rajah. Finally, Jasmine turned back and wrapped a torn scrap of sheer fabric over Rajah’s eyes to protect them from the sand. Kairi was about to turn to try to help Sora, but Aladdin beat her to it.

“Try it like this,” Aladdin said softly to Sora as if dealing with a small child. He showed Sora how to wrap some loose fabric around his face to protect it and then gently pulled Sora along beside him. 

“This is it,” Jasmine said suddenly, throwing her arms out to stop the others.

“This?” Kairi repeated. She came to stand beside Jasmine and looked out over the endless sea of golden sand. She didn’t see anything, certainly not a tiger’s maw rearing out of the sand. “I don’t see anything out there.”

“It’s there,” Jasmine repeated, bright eyes scanning the sand. “This way. Follow me.” Then, she led them down a steep sliding dune. 

Goofy and Donald had already gone down after Jasmine when Sora reached the top of the steep dune with Aladdin and Kairi saw a stiff paralyzing fear take hold of Sora as he looked down the slope. Rajah came up behind Sora and Aladdin, stopping to watch them a moment before turning those sharp eyes to Kairi.

Aladdin looked at Sora, perplexed. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you afraid of heights?”

“It’s okay,” Kairi said as much to Sora as to Aladdin. “I’ll take him down.”

Aladdin passed Sora’s arm to Kairi and then began sliding down the steep slope after the others. Kairi, Sora, and Rajah lingered at the top for a while longer.

“Sora,” Kairi said softly. “It’s alright. I know what you’ve been through, what was done to you, and how you fear, but it’s alright… I’m with you.”

Sora’s bright eyes met hers, he opened his mouth and appeared to speak, but no sound came out. He pressed one hand to his throat, his eyes widening in panic, but Kairi patted his arm tenderly, shushing him before anything could happen.

“It’s alright, Sora. Come down with me.” 

He gripped her hand tightly and allowed Kairi to lead him down to where the others were waiting. Rajah navigated the path behind them and went to join Jasmine once they reached the bottom of the dune. Aladdin’s monkey came out of his vest to perch on his shoulder now that the valley protected them from the stinging wind.

“You’re sure it’s here?” Goofy asked. 

Jasmine nodded.

“How do we get in?” Donald asked. 

The mage sounded irritated so Kairi stepped up beside him, bringing with her Sora. The moment they reached the front of the group, the ground beneath their feet began to shake and shift. For a long moment, it seemed as if the world was falling apart, as if they had been too late to save it from the Heartless, but then the gigantic tiger reared up before them. It was a truly awesome sight. The tiger’s great face and yawning mouth that was filled with bright orange light as if opening up into the depths of a volcano cast them immediately in a deep cool shadow reminiscent of night. It’s eyes were two bright points in that darkness, searching them. Then, that mouth moved and a rumbling voice echoed across the desert.

“Who disturbs my slumber?” the tiger demanded.

Jasmine immediately dropped into a low bow in the sand and Aladdin wasn’t far behind her. Kairi pulled Sora down as well, quickly followed suit by Goofy and Donald, until the entire procession was kneeling before the tiger as if it was a god.

“It is I,” Jasmine began. “Princess Jasmine of Agrabah. With me I bring, Aladdin, a street rat with a great heart and Kairi Sinclair, fallen princess of Hollow Bastion and a Princess of Heart like myself. Prince Sora of Disney Castle and the Keybearer and his two guards, Donald and Goofy. If this would please you that we all enter.”

The great tiger was silent a moment, considering. Then, it said only, “Proceed,” and opened it’s mouth wide. There was a jet of hot air similar to that of when the keyhole was locked and a staircase appeared inside its mouth.

“Well,” Aladdin was the first to recover and speak, “Shall we go in?”

Jasmine nodded, her eyes wide, and she reached out for Rajah. The tiger was the only one to actually act on entering and move towards the yawning maw, leading with him Jasmine. Then, Kairi and Sora followed them, still clasped tightly hand in hand. Maybe Sora hadn’t recovered from the descent, but Kairi squeezed his fingers in reassurance as they descended into the mouth of the tiger—of the Cave of Wonders. The others brought up the rear. 

It truly was nerve-wracking to walk into the mouth of a tiger, but the hot breath of the cave breathing was shocking. It was as if… it was alive. Could this entire thing be the heart of the world, pulsing, beating, breathing? The hearts of the worlds hadn’t seemed alive before.

“Amazing,” Jasmine breathed. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

Aladdin came up beside her, reached out absently to stroke Rajah’s strong head. The tiger thrummed deep in his chest and the monkey perched on Aladdin’s shoulder watched the beast suspiciously, tugging Aladdin’s dark hair nervously. “Quit it, Abu,” he whispered.

“Abu?” Jasmine repeated, smiling. “How cute.”

Aladdin smiled also. “We’ve been together forever. He’s the only friend I have.”

Jasmine stroked Rajah a little forlornly. “I know that feeling…”

“Gawrsh,” Goofy remarked and looked around once they reached the floor of the tiger’s throat. 

All around then were heaping piles of shining gold—idols, pots, figurines, plates and goblets, a golden hand on a plain stone statue (1), thrones, all jewel-encrusted and golden. Accompanying that were rack after rack of delicate scrolls whose names Jasmine whispered reverently as she passed—the scrolls from the hidden library at Alexandria, the Arabian Nights manuscript, the nomad poet’s many small ragged tomes. All these things were priceless treasures of her world, of her culture.

“Wow,” Kairi breathed. “Why is all this down here?”

“To protect it,” Aladdin murmured. “You don’t know how many people’s lives have probably been lost over the things in this cave.”

Jasmine nodded, awed. “People can be incredibly foolish. Money can buy you nothing that you really need.”

Aladdin bit his lip. Being a street rat, he had always thought that if he just had enough money, his life would be a little bit better. It was tempting to take a handful of the scattered gold coins, but he didn’t. Jasmine, a princess with riches beyond her wildest dreams, seemed to share the same unhappiness he did. Maybe money did buy nothing. Was that possible…?

Sora’s bright blue eyes were focused straight ahead and the countless treasures didn’t even reflect in his eyes.

“Where could the keyhole be?” Donald asked, his nasally voice bouncing off the walls.

“Who knows,” Goofy answered.

“Well, we’ve got to find it.”

Sora walked on thoughtlessly ahead as if pulled by a string, without looking left or right at the treasures surrounding him. Kairi was about to call his name, ask him to slow down and wait for the rest of them, but that feeling came back suddenly, slamming into her from the side. Something had locked its talons around the heart in her chest and was pulling, pulling, trying to tear it out of her chest. She gasped, choking in pain, as blackness threatened in at the edge of her vision.

“Kairi!” someone shouted. “Kairi!”

But she hit her knees on the hard stone floor, both hands pressing to her chest. She saw Sora turn, his bright eyes focusing on her face, and she saw that fear in his expression again before he lifted one hand and pointed down… down… down! Blackness… and a child’s voice screaming, “Please, make it stop! Don’t do this to me any longer!” Down…! down…! DOWN…!

**X:X:X**

(1) Anyone recognize the cameo appearance of the Hand of Midas from the third movie, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	26. Cave of Wonders: Pt I

I have nothing interesting to report.

**X:Cave:X:of:X:Wonders:X**

_The dark yawning black mouth of the pit…_ down, down, down… _feet bare and cold, scrambling for purchase over the gaping pit, nothing stretching out below him…_ down, down, down… _beneath, moldering bodies, the kitten and precious little sister…_ down, down, down… _darkness, falling, deep dark bottom…_ down, down, down… _that man laughing, pushing, cutting into flesh, taking the very ground from beneath his feet…_ down, down, down… _‘Please, don’t push me in! Don’t let me fall!’_

Kairi came back to her senses looking into Jasmine and Aladdin’s concerned faces. 

Sora’s small voice was still echoing in her head, screaming, and the world around her felt as if it was spinning out of control Overwhelming vertigo assaulted her and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She pressed one hand over her mouth and the other over her aching heart. God, Sora’s past… it was the worst thing she had ever experienced! Who could ever do that to another human being, to their own child? It was torture! And Sora’s heart… so heavy to carry locked in her chest.

“Are you alright?” Jasmine asked.

“Do you feel sick?” Aladdin added.

Kairi shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face. Her hair was so much like the color of blood that for a moment Sora’s past vaulted back over her like an icy ocean wave, but she shook it off because Aladdin and Jasmine were staring at her with rapt attention and concern. “I’m alright. Where are the others?”

“There’s a massive pit up ahead. They found some rope and are beginning to navigate the way down. If it’s safe, we’ll follow them,” Jasmine said.

Kairi’s heart lurched. “A pit?” she gasped. “Where’s Sora?”

“He stayed up here with us. Donald and Goofy went below. Sora wouldn’t even get close to the edge. Is he afraid of heights?”Aladdin asked.

“He is,” Kairi confessed. 

“Well, he’s going to have to climb down with us. See if you can talk him down,” Jasmine said and helped Kairi sit up. “Rajah went over with him. He’s wedged himself into a corner and won’t come out for anything we do. It’s like he’s in shock or something.”

Kairi staggered to her feet, vertigo assaulting her again. “I’ll see what I can do.” 

Sora was hunkered down in a corner behind a gigantic golden throne, cast deep in shadow so that his beautiful blue eyes appeared to glow in the darkness. He had his legs draw up against his chest, arms wrapped tightly around them with the Keyblade still clutched in one hand. He was staring off into some distant point and Kairi worried for a moment that Sora was back to his blank unresponsive self, but his head snapped in her direction when she approached and his mouth opened again as if he wanted to speak. Again, when no sound escaped him, he pressed his hand to his throat and appeared to panic. 

Kairi crouched behind him, laying one finger over his lips and shushing him. “It’s alright,” she whispered to him. 

He reached out and desperately clutched her hands, his grip painfully tight and the Keyblade clattered on the stone floor beside them. For one terrible moment, Kairi feared Sora would begin to turn into a Heartless without it in his hands as he had before, but he didn’t. The pale scar-like darkness she had become used to seeing on his face didn’t even move at her touch as it once had. In fact, the soft dark tendrils on his face looked more like an aged bruise than any real darkness now. Could the darkness be retreating from his body now that she had that single shattered shard of his heart?

“Sora, it’s alright,” she whispered and gently hugged him to her. 

His arms went around her small frame, squeezing her painfully tight against his body. She felt a shudder go through him, like that of a fallen broken-winged bird that was unable to fly. His chest heaved for breath, sucking in air as if he was going to drown, and his grip became even tighter. His fingers dug into her.

“Sora, please, you’re hurting me.”

Abruptly, he released her and looked desperately up into her face. His mouth opened again when she didn’t understand, throat and lips working though no sound escaped him. He clawed at his throat, raking the flesh, and Kairi quickly tore his hand down to his side. She hugged him to her again, stroking his hair and holding his hand away from his bloodied throat.

“It’s alright,” she cooed. “It’s alright.”

Sora shuddered in her grip, aching, and she felt the fear in his body through the lines of his muscles and the sharpness of his breath. Was it possible that he knew about the pit even though that piece of his heart was not in his possession? Was the fear that deeply ingrained into him?

“Sora?” she whispered and pulled back to look into his face.

His eyes were bright, focused on her intently, but glassy with fear. His gaze darted to the yawning blackness of the pit and then back to her face. His mouth opened, but she pressed her fingers to his lips to keep him from once again discovering his inability to speak.

Instead, she whispered, “Sora, are you afraid?”

He stared into her for a moment, his gaze so intense that she felt naked under it. Then, slowly, he closed those eyes as if to keep something back and nodded his head quickly, just once, as if his fear was hard for him to admit.

“Of heights?”

His eyes were on her again, drilling to her core. Then, a quick nod.

“And of the darkness?”

Another swift nod and his grip on her fingers tightened even more.

“And of falling?”

He closed his eyes, turned his face away, and nodded a final time.

“Sora?”

Kairi put her fingers beneath his chin and turned his gaze back so that he was looking into her eyes directly. Those cerulean sky-blue eyes of his—perfect, bare of any hideous gold—went into her soul sharply, like a cold knife, and she felt her own fears very clearly. Her fears for Riku and what had happened to him, her fears of death and failure, her fear that her own heart wasn’t going to be pure enough or have enough light in it to be of any help at the end, her fear for Sora and his shattered heart. What if the Keyblade had been right? What if she wasn’t strong enough to carry his heavy heart and her own?

“Sora,” she said finally. “Do you remember—never mind. It’s alright to be afraid, Sora. We’re all afraid of something, but don’t worry. We’ll all be with you. Now, will you stand up?”

He allowed her to pull him to his feet. Kairi eyed the fallen Keyblade, took a deep breath to strengthen herself, and bent to lift it. It practically sprung up from the stone floor. It was so light! Had Sora’s heart really been making it so heavy? That had to be it…

“Here,” she said and gently fit his fingers around it. She tried to lead him to the mouth of the dark pit where the others were waiting. (Goofy and Donald had called up a moment ago, telling them that it was safe to come down.)

Sora pulled on her hand, stopping her in her tracks.

“Sora?”

He stared into her again with those bright eyes like beams of light and then slowly stepped forward until their bodies were pressed together tightly. He buried his face in the side of her neck, breathing deeply and raggedly. His breath was hot on her throat, sending shivers down her spine, but the coolness of the rest of his body was almost unbelievable.

“Sora?” she whispered.

But as quickly as that moment had begun, it was over. Sora stepped back from her, tongue flashing out to wet his dry lips, and he turned his gaze to the mouth of the pit. It was almost as if he didn’t see it. It was as if he was seeing beyond it, back into the past—his horrible tormented past. Kairi squeezed his fingers and brought him to the lip of the pit with the others.

“You two alright now?” Aladdin asked and helped Jasmine lower herself over the mouth of the pit and onto the rope waiting there. Rajah peered down over the edge nervously, growling in his big chest, and Kairi saw a plume of Donald’s magic gently lift the tiger to the ground below. 

“Yeah, we’re fine.”

He nodded, but didn’t appear to believe them. Then he helped Kairi go over the edge after Jasmine and held out his hand for Sora, feeling a chill go down his spine. Sora’s mouth was moving in a frenzy, his lips working fast, but no sound was coming out. It looked as if he was saying—over and over—please, don’t make me do it, please, don’t make me do it, please, don’t make me do it… 

“Sora?” Aladdin whispered, concern clawing at the back of his throat.

Sora’s bright gaze met Aladdin’s own. Then, silently, his mouth stilled and he stepped up to the edge of the pit. For a short moment, he just stood there. Then, without hesitation or warning, Sora stepped over the edge and fell.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	27. Cave of Wonders: Pt II

I haven’t been writing on this lately. Pretty soon, I’m going to run out of the chapters I have in hock. Motivate me, people!

**X:Cave:X:of:X:Wonders:X**

A cry of alarm tore from Kairi’s lips when she saw Sora step over the edge of the pit. Had he gone mad? Goofy followed her gaze, saw Sora a split-second after she did, and rushed to try to catch the young man as he fell. Donald lifted his staff, prepared to use magic to save him to levitate him down as he had Rajah. Jasmine gasped, her hands going to her mouth, and Aladdin gave a cry of warning, but none of these things were necessary. 

As when Sora had saved Kairi from the grasp of the flying Heartless in Wonderland, the hand of God seemed the catch him the moment before he hit the ground and gently set him on his feet. Immediately though, he went to Kairi and put his arms around her, hiding his face. Kairi put her arms around him in return, hugging him tightly against her body. It felt as if his body was made out of glass and paper, ready to destroy itself at any moment. God, he was so thin…

Aladdin slid down the rope at light-speed, landing in a cloud of dust. “What was that?” he demanded. 

Kairi glanced at him and rubbed Sora’s back. “I don’t know.”

“Has it happened before?” Jasmine asked.

“Once.”

“Once?”

“In Wonderland. A Heartless took me and Sora leaped up into the air somehow to save me and I thought we would die when we landed, but the same thing happened,” Kairi explained. “It’s like…”

“Fate intervened,” Aladdin murmured and gently stroked his monkey’s peering head. “It’s alright, Abu. Everyone’s okay.”

Kairi felt Sora’s lips move against her bare collarbone, endlessly, whispering in a mantra, but she couldn’t make out what his unspeaking mouth was trying to say. She only felt the movement and the fear in the set of his tense body. Then, Donald told them that they should get moving and Sora pulled away from Kairi. When she saw his face, he was pale, but his expression was smooth and calm and he wasn’t whispering anything. He followed Goofy and Donald into the dark tunnel without looking back.

…

The tunnel brought them to a narrow ledge that looked out over a large cavern. There, resting on a high pedestal with stone steps carved into the rock pillar, was the gleaming white-pink stone that marked the location of the keyhole. Swarming all over the keyhole and throughout the cavern were Heartless. There were scores of them, hundreds, and it was a veritable sea of golden eyes.

“The keyhole,” Goofy breathed. “The Heartless are trying to devour it.”

Jasmine let out a sharp sound. “That’s the heart of my world! The Heartless—they’re going to destroy it!” Then, from the hilt at her hip, she withdrew her two twin scimitar swords and brandished them. “I have to fight! I have to do whatever I can!”

Aladdin caught her elbow. “Wait! We need a plan!”

Kairi grabbed Jasmine’s other elbow and hooked Sora with her free hand. “He’s right. If we just charge in there, they’ll rip us to pieces.”

Jasmine glanced at the gleaming keyhole and turned back to her friends, exasperated. “Well, what about using our hearts as weapons? Kairi and I could push them back and the guys could cover us. We have the Keybearer, too.”

“I don’t really know how to do that,” Kairi protested. 

“I managed to do it with my father. It can’t be that hard!” Jasmine protested, whipping her head back to look at the Heartless. “I have to do something!” She tried to pull away from Aladdin, but he pulled her back quickly. 

“Hold it!”

Kairi let go of Jasmine to let Aladdin take over and passed Sora off to Goofy. “Let’s try it from here, first,” she said to Jasmine. “If we can use our hearts, then we might have a chance to stop them without getting hurt.”

“Then let’s do it!” Jasmine protested and pulled her arms out of Aladdin’s grip. She sheathed her twin swords and folded her hands over her chest, squeezing her eyes shut. Then, she whispered, “Please, let this work. I have to protect my world.”

Kairi stepped up beside her and her heart felt as if it was trying to bang its way out of her chest. It almost hurt. She pressed her hands over her Claddagh mark as she had when trying to help the sultan and willed very hard for something drastic to happen. She needed her heart to become a weapon. She needed to do something to help—anything! Now was not the time for any part of her to act as a damsel in distress! She was the fallen Princess of Hollow Bastion and a Princess of Heart. “Let this work!” she insisted.

But Jasmine was the first to get it working, even though no one immediately noticed. Suddenly, Rajah started nuzzling his mistress’s leg, pushing against her sheath and thigh, and Jasmine tried to swat the tiger away. Then, Aladdin saw it too. A bright light was seeping out of the top of her sheath, coming from her weapons inside it. 

“Jasmine,” he gasped and pointed when her bright amber eyes slid to him.

When she saw the light, she grinned and pulled them from the sheath. The swords had become massive weapons, gleaming and shining with light that spread off them in waves akin to bright flames. From their perch above the Heartless, she swung one sword and the brightness spread from the tip, slashing down into the army below and then shrinking back to the sword. 

“Awesome,” she whispered. “So this is the weapon my heart takes. Keep trying, Kairi.” 

Then, Jasmine leaped down among the screaming Heartless and began cutting them down effortlessly. Aladdin made an unhappy sound, shook his head, and then jumped down beside her. For one heart-stopping moment, it looked as if Jasmine’s blades of light were going to cut him down as well, but instead the light broke around him like water, swirling up and over him. Aladdin drew his small knife, his money clinging to his shoulders and shrieking madly. Rajah leaped down a second later, catching Heartless in his jaws and crushing them. After seeing that, Goofy and Donald joined her in the fray and began to fight the Heartless back as well.

Kairi and Sora remained on the ledge. Sora was watching the battle, his eyes darting, but he was as far away from the drop as possible.

“Sora, you should help them,” Kairi whispered to him.

He pointed to the edge. 

“It’s alright. You’re safe.”

His eyes gleamed in the dimness. Then, he nodded once swiftly, closed his eyes tightly, and stepped over the edge. 

Kairi remained at the top for a few moments longer, trying to work her heart up into a weapon, but nothing was happening save a painful knocking. Maybe her heart didn’t work that way. So, she drew her small knife, gripped it tightly, and plunged over the edge after the others. She joined them, but she was hardly necessary. Between Jasmine’s swords of light and Sora’s Keyblade, they were cutting down Heartless like overgrown grass. 

Aladdin had his back against Jasmine’s covering her from any Heartless that might try to attack her from behind and Rajah was low in front of her, covering her from the front with bared teeth. Donald and Goofy were back to back as well, working easily together with the skills of great friends. Sora was fighting alone as was Kairi. When a Heartless slashed her back, she suddenly wished Riku was here to cover her back as he always did.

The fight didn’t last very long, even after the Heartless started to evolve and swoop down from the ceiling. Jasmine and Sora cut them all down swiftly and easily, silently. Panting, Kairi joined the others at the base of the great stone pillar, the keyhole glowing brightly at the top. It had never been glowing before.

“Why is it glowing?” Aladdin asked as the same moment Jasmine asked, “Do they always glow?”

Goofy shook his head. “Gawrsh, no.”

“You don’t think,” Kairi began, but Donald stole the words out of her mouth.

“The Heartless were here. I think they damaged the keyhole and that light is the heart of the world,” the mage said.

“Then,” Jasmine gasped. “Were we too late?”

“I don’t think so,” Goofy put in. “The world would have vanished if the heart had been devoured, but I think it’s best that we lock it quickly.”

Jasmine nodded. “Yes, definitely.”

Kairi turned to Jasmine. “Our friend Aurora will come here in the gummi-ship to pick you up and take you to Disney Castle, if you still want to help us that is.”

“I do,” Jasmine said eagerly. “I will leave as soon as possible. I’d even come with you on the rest of your journey.”

“It’s too dangerous for us all to travel together. It’s better that you go to Disney Castle with King Mickey and the other Princesses of Heart,” Kairi told her.

“I would like to go to,” Aladdin put in, “if that’s alright.”

Kairi began to nod, but Jasmine cut in. “Actually, Aladdin, would you mind staying here and helping my father watch over my people. I’m concerned for them and for his heart. What if something happens? I need someone strong here.”

“But you need someone strong with you,” he protested.

She smiled. “I’ll take Rajah.”

The tiger lifted his head loyally.

Jasmine stroked his head. “Then it’s settled,” she murmured and nodded to Kairi. “I wish you luck, Kairi.”

Suddenly, there was a strange and terrible sound. The keyhole blazed, flickered, blazed again, and finally dimmed. Jasmine yelped out a question that was drowned out by the screaming of Heartless as they poured back into the cavern. 

“Get out of here!” Kairi shouted. “We’ll lock the keyhole and you’ll be safe.”

“Lock it now!” Jasmine screamed, slashing out with her of swords of light. “Do it!” 

“We can’t’! You’ll be sucked into the next world with us!”

Aladdin grabbed one of Jasmine’s weapons and the light immediately cut out on that sword. He plunged it into the ground, grabbed Jasmine around the waist, and held her tight. Rajah plowed through the Heartless and vanished into the tunnel again, into safety. 

“Do it!” Jasmine shouted again.

The air beside the keyhole suddenly shimmered as if heated by a mirage. A dark purple-black rift appeared beside it and Kairi saw Riku’s pale face and hair in the darkness of the bruise-like rift. His dragon-green eyes flashed at her, filled with something unspeakable—rage, hatred, sorrow, love.

“Riku,” she whispered.

The heartless screamed in, smashing into the base of the pillar and beginning to scramble up to the keyhole to destroy and devour it. From the rift Riku was in, more Heartless poured out like a tide of black water, rushing down over the keyhole and obscuring the light.

“Do it now!” Aladdin shouted.

“Please,” Jasmine screamed.

Kairi grabbed Sora’s hand and he lifted his Keyblade. As before, the grinding sound of the world locking coupled with the strange noise of it breaking down was deafening. There was a blast of light and hot air and then, Agrabah was safe and gone. So was Riku.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	28. The Land of Dragons: Pt I

Okay, we have collected Aurora, Belle, Ella, and Jasmine. (And Kairi of course.) Just Snow White and my secret Princess of choice to replace Alice. Then, the real meat can begin! Jeez, this story had an obnoxious amount of set-up!

Kind of a short chapter. I plan about two more worlds before I ship everyone back to Disney Castle. Now, someone remind me of that so I don’t get all off track!

**X:Land:X:of:X:Dragons:X**

Upon crash-landing, it was obvious that they were in China. The beautiful gold-tiled roof of the Imperial Palace stabbed into the dim purple sky like a bright beacon. The sweeping corners ornamented with figurines and tile-work, dougong, caissan domed ceilings, ornate pavilions, wide terraces, and stonemasonry. Everything was black and gold, the imperial colors. It was the most beautiful thing Kairi had ever seen and she was sad that she couldn’t fully appreciate it. After their landing and being rudely dumped on top of Sora, her mind immediately turned to that brief glimpse she had caught of Riku.

“Did you see that?” she demanded.

“See what?” Goofy asked and pulled himself to his feet. 

“Riku! Riku was in Agrabah!”

“Kairi, I think you might have hit your head,” Donald said flatly and started brushing himself off.

“I did not! I saw him! I saw Riku! He was in Agrabah! We have to go back!”

Goofy caught her arms. “We can’t go back, Kairi.”

“We have to keep going forward,” Donald added.

“But he’s alive!”

“He is. Now that’s one less worry for you to worry about,” Donald said. “We should keep moving.”

“But—”

“Kairi,” Goofy said gently. “I’m sure we’ll run into Riku again.”

A sudden thought occurred to Donald. “How did Riku get to Agrabah? He certainly didn’t come with us. Kairi?”

“I don’t know. He was in a sort of dark rift,” she told them.

Donald’s eyes widened. “A dark rift?”

Kairi nodded.

“Oh no,” Goofy said.

“What?” Kairi asked.

“This is bad,” Donald said.

“What?”

“We need to contact King Mickey right away.”

“Why?”

“He’ll need to make some adjustments to the castle.”

“Why?”

“This isn’t good.”

“Would someone please tell me what is going on?” Kairi shouted.

“Kairi, you know there is light in this world and there is darkness. The Princesses of Heart can use the light as a weapon. The Heartless were devoured by the darkness and some people, people that became evil without becoming Heartless, give themselves over into darkness. The darkness devours them and gives them power.”

“So?” Kairi asked.

Donald glanced at Goofy and then back to Kairi. Then, he shook his head, but Goofy was merciful.

“It means, Kairi, that Riku has given his heart to the darkness.”

Riku’s face flashed through her head—his smooth white smile, his strong arms and hands, his weaponry, his strength and loyalty protecting her, his silvery hair and bright dragon-green eyes, even his laughter. Her eyes burned and the world began to shift and slide. She was only suddenly aware that she was crying because she saw the brightness of Sora’s cerulean blue eyes before her and then felt his fingers on her face, wiping away her tears with tender curiosity.

…

The four of them walked through the beautiful city to the Imperial Palace, uneasy. The entire city was deserted, empty, sepulchral. They knocked rather boldly on the door, the sound echoing inside the vaulted of the palace. For a moment, there was no movement inside—could everyone be dead here? Then, there was a faint call to enter. It was a woman’s voice, bidding them to enter. Goofy nudged Sora and Kairi behind him and pushed the door open. 

Something was very wrong here.

Inside the palace, the entire population of the city had been crammed. People milled everywhere, stepping on each other and tripping about. Seated at the center on what must have once been the Emperor’s throne, watching over everyone was a tiny red and gold dragon with bright eyes. Crowded around the tiny dragon was a nervous-looking man in blue and carrying a tablet, a strong man wearing red and decked in weapons, a slender young man beside him in green and black with shoulder-length black hair, and seated at the dragon’s feet was a beautiful young woman in a white silk cheongsam.

When the four of them entered, a sort of path was struggled out so they could walk up to the Emperor’s platform.

The beautiful young woman and the youth in green armor immediately rushed up to them. 

The young woman in the mandarin gown was a stunning image. The white silk dress she wore made her short ebony hair appear even darker, her skin as white as snow, and her lips as red as the rose. She clasped Kairi’s hands, her blue eyes bright with relief and happiness. “You’re here,” she whispered. “You’re finally here. Thank god!”

The youth beside her, clad in armor and outfitted with weapons, said, “I’m so glad to finally meet you.” For a young man, he had a rather high and sweet voice. “We managed to speak with King Mickey just once before all communications were lost.”

Kairi stared at them both, stunned.

“Gawrsh, what happened here? Why is everyone in the castle?”

The youth put a hand to the sword at his waist. “You walked through the streets, didn’t you? How’d you get here unhurt?”

“What do you mean?” Kairi asked. “The streets were deserted.”

“What?” the youth and the young woman breathed in unison. 

“It’s true… They’re gone,” the young woman said and then slumped to her knees. “Where did they all go?”

“Can you please explain what’s happening here?” Kairi asked gently.

“The Heartless… They were going to destroy us all. If it wasn’t for Snow White, we all would have been lost,” the youth said and pushed a hand through his hair. “She managed to erect a barrier around the Imperial Palace.”

“I’m sorry,” Kairi said. “What?”

So they started from the beginning. It seemed that after King Mickey had broadcasted the situation to all the remaining worlds, alerting them that his son and the others could arrive at any moment and to please help them as much as possible, the Heartless had attacked the Land of Dragons in force. They had forced all the survivors into the palace for safety and to try to defend the Emperor, but a Heartless had made it inside and killed the Emperor before anyone could act fast enough in the cramped space. Then, their numbers only increased outside the palace, as if sensing victory was near.

The Heartless had been just about to break through the doors when there had been a blast of hot air and bright light and the young beautiful woman named Snow White had appeared sprawled on the floor before them, unconscious and out of nowhere. But even unconscious, a sort of bright light came out of her chest, formed a sphere, and pushed out until it surrounded the entire palace in tight protection. She had saved them somehow.

In turn, Kairi and the others explained what they had been through. Including how the Princesses of heart could use their hearts as weapons of light ad that it was similar to Snow White’s powers. Snow White pulled aside her dress and revealed a Claddagh mark. Fantastic, there was only one princess let to locate and then they could all return to Disney Castle and try to think of a way to defeat the Heartless before it was too late.

It was after all that that the young man explained that he wasn’t a young man at all, but a young woman named Hua Mulan. She had joined the army to fight back the Heartless after they had slaughtered her family, but women weren’t supposed to be warriors. Despite all odds and after saving the Emperor’s right hand man, Li Shang, she was accepted into the army to avenge her family and to fight.

“Is there a way you can contact your king?” Mulan asked. “We need to get these people off this world before it’s destroyed.”

“We can help,” Kairi broke in. “Do you know where your world’s keyhole is?”

Snow White and Mulan nodded. 

“It’s out there, but it’s too dangerous,” Snow White said. 

“If the Heartless come back in those numbers, it’s all over,” Mulan agreed.

“But you could come with us,” Kairi said to Snow White. “And we have the Keybearer.”

Mulan was already shaking her head, dark hair feathering against her cheeks. 

Li Shang came up behind the girls and put one hand on Mulan’s shoulder. “You don’t understand these numbers,” he said to Kairi. “It’s… unreal.”

“How many?” Donald asked, cutting to the chase.

“Hundreds of thousands,” Shang said.

Donald’s mouth fell open and a strange duck sound came out.

“T-that’s impossible,” Kairi choked out. “Those kinds of numbers…”

Shang nodded. “It was almost over for us and we can’t risk it if something were to happen now. We need to get these people out of this world. We need to get them someplace safe,” he said sharply.

Mulan’s eyes flashed. “Can you contact your king and arrange a gummi-ship for our people?”

“Goofy, the mirror,” Kairi asked and held out her hands.

Goofy pulled the satchel out of the back of his shield where he had stored it in perfect safety so nothing would happen to it and handed it over to Kairi. Then, they all crowded around her to see the face of the mirror after she spoke the words, “Show me King Mickey.”

The king’s small mouse face appeared and he smiled warmly. “Kairi, how is it going?”

“Not so well, King Mickey. We’re in the Land of Dragons.”

“Land of Dragons? I’ve lost contact with them. How are they? Is everyone okay?”

“Sort of,” Kairi said softly and passed the mirror to Mulan and Shang. “Here, explain it to him.”

Mulan, Shang, Snow White, and the nervous man in blue, whose name was Chi-Fu (1), crowded around the mirror. It turned out that Chi-Fu had assembled a count of the dead, missing, and survivors of the Land of Dragons and the count was very grim. Then, they explained to him about the keyhole and how dangerous it was and how little time was left for this world. Mickey agreed to send his largest gummi-ship to collect all the survivors led by Princess Aurora Briar-Rose who was turning out to be quite the pilot.

Then, Snow White did something unexpected. “Once everyone is safe, I will go with you to attempt to lock the keyhole,” she told Kairi and Sora. “If you’ll have my help that is.”

Mulan and Shang were quick to agree to join the venture, but Snow White assured them that they would do better to stay with the people of the Land of Dragons. In a strange new place, they would need leadership, especially since the Emperor was dead. They agreed.

Then, there was nothing to do but wait for the arrival of the gummi-ship and Aurora.

**X:X:X**

(1) Fun fact, Chi-Fu means “to bully.” I think that fits him kind of well. He does try to bully everyone.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	29. The Land of Dragons: Pt II

I’m sad Mulan got such a small role. I love her.

**X:Land:X:of:X:Dragons:X**

Aurora turned out to be partly inhuman as she got the gummi-ship to the Land of Dragons in little under two hours. She must have flown through the deep hellish it of space at full throttle. She landed gently on the top of the Imperial Palace, only just barely shaking the foundation of the entire world. By the time she had arrived, the Heartless numbers that Shang, Mulan, and Snow White had spoken of had assembled outside the palace.

Aurora took a deep breath and breathed out, “Holy mother…” Then, she called Phillip to rest on her shoulder where she wore the new leather shoulder-plate King Mickey had designed for her so that Phillip could perch with her but leave her hands free for anything she might need them for. Then, Aurora slid down the building’s strong pillars to the ground and let herself in through the back door where she was certain the others were waiting for her.

She heaved open the heavy doors and made her way into the Imperial Palace. Immediately, she wanted to back out the door again. How many sardines can the Chinese fit in a can? Well, they could probably get about three or four more into an already packed can. (1) The palace was packed to the brim with the Land of Dragons’ people, so tightly that Phillip flew from Aurora’s shoulder to circle overhead where there was more space. She wished she could join him, but she was forced to push her way through the thick crowds.

Then, in the sea of dark hair, she spotted blood-red. “Kairi!” Aurora shouted.

Immediately, her fellow princess turned and a look of surprise crossed her pretty face before she beamed and shouted back, “Aurora!”

A sort of path was carved through the people and Aurora finally made it to where the others were standing. Then, Phillip returned to perch on her shoulder and she stroked the bird’s feathers lovingly. 

“Aurora, you look great,” Kairi said, happily clasping the other girl’s hands.

“Thanks,” Aurora said and smoothed down the clothing King Mickey had outfitted her in. Upon arriving with little more than Phillip and her mother’s dagger at her waist, King Mickey had seen to it that she was immediately dressed and armed. Now, she carried a short sword and her mother’s dagger in the belt at her waist with a new leather plate belted over her right shoulder for Phillip to rest on. She was wearing a long skirt, tailored with a slit up both sides to her hips so she could fight without tearing through her skirts each time and thick leather boots on her feet. Her outfit was impeccable for battle save the top she wore. She still favored corset tops and it still looked as if it would slide down her chest as any moment, the Claddagh mark gleaming brightly on the pale swell of her exposed breast. “Your King Mickey is amazing,” Aurora said. “Now, shall we get these people out of here?”

With Mulan and Shang leading the people of the Land of Dragons, it didn’t take long to pack them into the gummi-ship Aurora had brought and even though it was the largest in King Mickey’s fleet, it was still quite a squeeze. Then, they lingered on the roof of the palace, saying their goodbyes.

“I’ll tell King Mickey that you’re doing well,” Aurora said and clasped Kairi’s hands. “You’re sure you don’t need my help? I’ve been training with Belle and Ella to use my heart as a weapon. I’m getting really good at it.”

“Jasmine’s not there yet?”

“She’s due tomorrow with her tiger. I’m excited to see a tiger. In my world, they’re beasts that belong in fairytales, “ Aurora said with a small girlish smile. It was then that Kairi realized just how young Aurora was. She couldn’t have been more than seventeen.

“Send our regards to the king,” Goofy said. 

“And tell him that we’ll do everything we can to help Sora,” Donald added. 

Aurora nodded and glanced at the empty palace. “Where is you other companion? Riku?”

Kairi’s face fell and shattered. “He’s… no longer with us.”

“Oh,” Aurora breathed. “I’m so sorry.” Then, she hugged Kairi gently and Kairi’s eyes welled with tears. Aurora thought Riku was dead, but the truth was much worse. Riku had given his heart to the darkness. He was her enemy now, no longer her most trusted friend and ally. 

Riku…

“You’d better get going,” Donald broke in. “We want to try to seal the keyhole before it gets dark.”

Aurora released Kairi, nodding. “Right. I’ll get them all back to Disney Castle safely. You can count on me,” she said and turned to Snow White, “When you get to the next world, give me a call on that mirror and I’ll come pick you up.”

Snow White nodded, smiling. “Lovely to meet you, Princess Aurora.”

Then, Aurora ducked into the loaded gummi-ship, closed the doors, and took off into the darkening sky. For a moment, they all watched her go. 

Then, Kairi turned and looked at the sea of bright golden Heartless eyes and turned to Snow White. “I hope we don’t all die,” she whispered. Sora stepped up beside her and took her hand, squeezing it tightly as if to reassure her, but his eyes remained on some distant point and Kairi couldn’t be sure. “Let’s go.”

…

They assembled at the front doors of the Imperial Palace. Sora at the front, Kairi holding his elbow and gripping her small knife in her free hand. Snow White was just behind them, her hands pressed to her breast. Goofy and Donald brought up the rear.

“You know, maybe we should have let Shang and Mulan come with us,” Goofy remarked. “Just to have some extra hands and weapons.”

“It’ll be alright,” Snow White said softly. “I can protect us with my shield.”

Kairi nodded. “Alright, Snow White. We’re trusting you with our lives. Open the doors.”

Goofy and Donald darted from the rear of the group, pushed open the doors, and lifted their weapons. Shrieking and screaming, the Heartless launched at them, all claws and sharp teeth. Goofy closed his eyes tightly—the numbers were too great. They were done for…

Finished!

The Heartless slammed against a crystalline shield of white light. The shield crackled and sparked, but held strongly. In fact, it blazed brighter and stronger the more the Heartless bounced off it and bounce off it they did. It was an endless stream of Heartless pouring against and over Snow White’s heart-shield. She smiled at their awed expressions and took a step forward. The shield moved with her, rolling like a great orb and flattening the Heartless in its path. 

“Shall we go?” Snow White asked them.

With Snow White’s shield, it was unnervingly easy to walk through the swarming streets of the Land of Dragons into a small red-gated temple. As they had been in Agrabah, the Heartless were swarming all over the keyhole and it was glowing faintly through the swarm. But all Snow White had to do was step close enough that her shield washed over the keyhole as well and then there was nothing left to do except lock the world.

Since Kairi was still holding Sora’s elbow, all he had to do was lift his Keyblade. For a small moment, nothing happened. Then, the light shot out from the tip of his Keyblade and the beam that always came from Kairi’s heart joined the fray. A second beam came from Snow White and the beautiful young woman doubled over in agony, clutching her chest. The shield wavered, but held. 

“Snow White!” Goofy shouted, supporting her in his arms.

She gasped. “It hurts… something is… breaking off of my heart…”

Kairi dashed to Snow White’s side, pressing her hand over the young woman’s Claddagh mark. The pain flowed into her, washed up her arm and into her chest in a wave of white-hot agony. Her heart lurched. Sora turned to face them, his blue eyes haunted and bright. His mouth opened and an agonizing scream came out, so loud and shrill that it burst into Kairi’s eardrums like a knife. She pulled her hands back to cover her ears, a cry escaping her mouth as well.

Then, the bright light and heat of the next world swept over the small group and they glimpsed the Heartless as they were expunged from the Land of Dragons. The rushing sensation of falling overwhelmed them as they raced to the new world through the keyhole.

Sora had stopped screaming, but the scream carried on inside Kairi’s head. 

“Stop it! Don’t do this to me!”

She smashed to the cold hard ground, wind knocked out of her, and looked up into the darkness around her. The Keyblade’s voice came over as if from a distance, filled with rage and disbelief. Then, everything was quiet save the steady zsash-zsash of the sea.

**X:X:X**

(1) Ever see the videos of the Japanese people packing into the subway? I’m sure the Chinese can do it too.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	30. The Strange Place: Please, Let Me Sleep

My email is being a jerk to me. It won’t work!

**X:The:X:Strange:X:Place:X**

The zsash-zsash of the cerulean sea, the endless white beach, the palm fronds rattling like bones, the gusting hot air, the ruined town, the black cat with its back arched and hissing, the house and the dark basement… the deep black pit and moldering bodies of the kitten and beloved sister…

Sora’s heart. 

Sora’s terrible past.

Sora’s heavy aching soul.

Kairi found herself there once again, alone save the sea and the cat.

She hurried through the ruined streets to the small ramshackle house where Sora and his tormenter lived. She pushed open the front door without pausing to wonder why she didn’t pass through the door as she did through Sora’s pale body and descended immediately to the basement, dreading what she would discover about Sora and his heavy heart now. Though, what could be worse than that horrible dark endless pit and the fear of heights that had been tortured into Sora’s psyche at such a young and tender age?

Why was she here again anyway? In this strange ruined desolate place in the past?

Surely another piece of Sora’s ruined heart hadn’t been given to her by the Keyblade? The weapon had said that it only possessed one shard of Sora’s heart and it had already given that piece to Kairi. Unless… unless, as a Princess of Heart, a shard of his heart had been living inside Snow White and Kairi now housed that in her soul. But if his heart had been split between the Princesses of Heart, then why hadn’t Kairi already had a piece of Sora’s heart? Or maybe, like Belle had been able to do to the people of Beast’s Castle, Kairi was somehow restoring his heart.

She pushed open the basement door and went quickly down the roughhewn concrete steps into the bunker where Sora was tormented. As before, it was dim and damp and the pit was looming like a gaping maw in the corner of the room. Unlike before though, Sora was no longer being tormented at the mouth of the yawning drop.

This time, Sora’s tormentor was sitting in a comfortable armchair in the center of the room with a stack of violent pornographic magazines at his feet. He was naked to the waist, bare chest gleaming with sweat in the warmth of the room, and his hard dick being plainly jerked to whatever he was looking at in the open magazine. Kairi didn’t want to know what could arouse this man and the cover of the lewd magazine depicted a woman in chains, her mouth gagged, her bare breasts raw and red. Bondage and torture… God, what a monster this man was.

And Sora was standing in the center of the room, barely on the tips of his toes with his arms bound securely to the rafter overhead. Strapped to his chest, sharp prongs pressing against his heaving throat and digging into his upper abdomen, was a strange metal device more or less shaped like a bi-pronged fork. (1) The use of the hideous device was obvious in Sora’s pale face. His beautiful cerulean eyes were fringed with deep bruise-like bags, red-rimmed, and hideously bloodshot. Sleep deprivation. He clearly hadn’t slept in days for each time his head would dip in sleep, the prongs of the fork would stab into his throat and the agony would wake him.

His tormentor was only making it worse with the warmth of the room. That, and he probably sat there jerking off until he fell asleep and further tormented Sora with his snores and comfortable slumber. And Sora would just hang there like a slab of meat, desperate for sleep.

“You sick bastard,” Kairi whispered. Then, she sharply turned away as an orgasm rocked the man and his seed spurted through his fingers. 

Then, a terrible thought occurred to her. What if… what if he had raped Sora? She rushed across the room and slowly, cautiously circled Sora’s exposed body. He was wearing only his boxers and sweating lightly in the heat, but there were no bruises on his wrists, hips, or ankles that suggested rape. However terrible this man was, at least he hadn’t fallen that low as to rape Sora… yet. Kairi didn’t know how many more horrible secrets lurked in Sora’s shattered heavy heart.

“Sora,” she whispered and tenderly laid her hands on his trembling back. Her fingers passed through his pale skin, but she could fool herself into thinking that her touch could comfort him.

Sora’s head dipped and Kairi saw the points press into his flesh painfully. With a start, his head snapped back up and his red-rimmed shadowed eyes flew open. For a moment, he bit his lip and she saw his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Then, brokenly, he whispered, “Please… please, let me sleep…”

The man glanced up from his magazine and grinned at Sora. “Oh, are you tired, Sora?”

Sora’s head dipped again and he jolted when the points dug into his throat again, whimpering. “Please…”

“It’s only been seven days, Sora.”

“Please… please, I can’t…”

The man tucked his dick back into his pants and stood up from the chair. 

Kairi put herself between him and Sora, arms spread, and demanded that he stop, but he only walked through her. She was a ghost here, unable to help or influence anything she saw. She couldn’t help Sora. She couldn’t do anything.

The man took Sora’s face in his hands and stroked his thumbs across the dark circles beneath Sora’s beautiful eyes. Kairi feared he would strike Sora, but he didn’t make a move to hurt the young boy, only continued stroking his face gently. Sora’s eyes started to close again, slowly, heavily, and then his head dipped down in sleep. The man continued to hold Sora’s face gently, supporting his head and letting him sleep. Then, suddenly, he just let go. For a moment, the prongs of the fork pressed into Sora’s tender throat and the boy didn’t wake. Like a vampire’s bloody bite, the prongs bit into the soft flesh and two drops of blood ran down Sora’s throat. Then, Sora’s head jerked up with a small scream of agony.

“How was that?”

Sora stared at his tormentor. 

“Well, I let you sleep.”

Sora’s eyes welled with tears and they slowly made tracks down his cheeks, dripping from his chin. He squeezed those eyes shut and sobbed, broken, desperately. 

“Don’t worry, Sora. You only have to make it three more days. Ten days without sleep,” the man said softly and stroked Sora’s cheek again. “Then, you can sleep for as long as you want.”

“Please,” Sora sobbed. “Please, please… let me sleep…”

“In time, Sora, in time,” he cooed. Then, the man returned to his easy chair and stretched it out in a reclining position. Then, he made himself comfortable among the porn magazines and slept deeply, snoring loudly.

Kairi’s heart shattered for Sora.

Sora bowed his head and sobbed brokenly, but his crying only exhausted him further. It was even harder for him to keep his eyes open. The prongs of the fork bit into his pale throat and for a moment, it seemed as if Sora was trying to take his own life by pressing down on those sharp points, but to no avail. He pulled back, tears streaming down his face and blood running down his throat. He was the very portrait of hell, of a fallen and tormented angel.

“Oh Sora, oh God.”

**X:X:X**

(1) This is an actual old-fashioned device used in torture, specifically for sleep deprivation. It’s called the “Heretic’s fork.”

Questions, comments, concerns?

Any concerns for my sanity?


	31. The New World: Pt I

The long-awaited chapter telling your who the secret Princess is!

**X:The:X:New:X:World:X**

Kairi opened her eyes to the sight of a pointed ceiling of animal hide and long wooden poles. Was she in a teepee? At her side, Sora and Snow White were crouched patiently. For a moment, jealously swelled in Kairi’s hear because Snow White was holding Sora’s hand and gently stroking it, whispering and smiling softly. 

But the moment Kairi sat up, Sora had instantly abandoned Snow White in her favor and threw his arms around her neck, hugging her tightly. A moment later, she felt his hands pressing against her chest, but he wasn’t groping her. His right hand found her heartbeat and pressed over it securely. Then, she felt him breathing shakily into her throat. She embraced him in return and saw Snow White smiling gently as if she had known what Kairi was thinking and being jealous about but didn’t care.

“Where are we?” Kairi asked.

“An Indian village,” Snow White said. “The Powhatan Tribe.”

“Indians?” Kairi repeated.

“It gets better,” Snow White continued. “We’ve found the final Princess of Heart!”

Kairi sat up, pushing Sora back a little. “You have?” she asked eagerly.

Snow White nodded. “Oh, yes!”

“Well, who is it?!”

“It’s me.” The young woman who stepped through the flap of the teepee was gorgeous, exotic, and if Riku had been there at the time, he probably would have had a spontaneous comic nosebleed. She was all amber-brown honey-tanned flesh, bare and long-limbed beneath a deerskin dress that hung off her shoulder and exposed the Claddagh mark, gleaming brightly on the swell of her exposed breast. Her ink-black hair hung to her waist, tossing and twisting on the breeze, and her dark earthen eyes took them in quickly and efficiently but with a certain curiosity. She had all the trademark beauty of a Native American—the high cheekbones, full lips, strong long limbs, dark hair and eyes, a blood-red tattoo snaking around her upper arm, and smoky olive skin. In her hands, she carried a stone dagger fletched with feathers and leaves and a spear on a long shaft. Hanging about at her bare feet was a large fat raccoon and a green hummingbird flit around her head a moment before dashing off. “My name is Pocahontas.” (1)

Snow White peeled Sora from Kairi and helped the girl to her feet. Then, she turned to Pocahontas with a smile. “Is everything alright?”

“Our medicine man, Kekata, would like to speak with these two in private,” she said and there was something strange in her voice.

“Of course,” Snow White said and ducked out of the teepee.

“Is something wrong?” Kairi asked. The fine hairs on her neck prickled, but Pocahontas only came in and sat beside the fire, feeding small twigs into it.

“No, nothing is wrong, only something is… strange,” Pocahontas said softly and her sharp eyes flashed to Sora’s face. “That one is… empty.”

Kairi’s heart thundered, heavy and slow, against her ribs. “What do you mean?”

Pocahontas said something in her native tongue and then repeated, “Heartless. He gives off the same spirit as one of those monsters.”

“He’s not—”

“Calm down,” she said plainly and stirred her fingers in the earth. “We are not superstitious beasts. We wish to talk and explain how.”

Through the flap of the teepee, an old man stepped in. His hair was long and grey, softly woven with beads and feathers. His face was strong, lined and weathered by the sun. He was draped all in animal skins, hiding his thin and aged body beneath the borrowed strength of animals. “Hello children,” he said gently and sat beside Pocahontas. He passed his hands through the pale smoke, seeming to catch it in those long frail fingers and shape it into something real. In his hands, he held a beating heart of nothing more than smoke. Then, it was gone. “I wish to speak with you, boy.”

“He can’t speak,” Kairi broke in, but the man smiled at her as if he knew something that she didn’t. 

“Don’t worry, child,” he said, still smiling and shaped the smoke in his hands into the Keyblade. “I know that. Come here to me, boy.”

Sora’s eyes shifted, met Kekata’s, and slid away.

“You need not be afraid, child,” Kekata murmured. “Come here to me.”

Sora rose onto his knees and half-crawled to the medicine man’s side. Gently, lightly, Kekata laid his hands over Sora’s face, lowering Sora’s creamy lids over his beautiful blue eyes. Sora’s body seemed to sigh and fold inward until he appeared a small child, shivering slightly. Kekata cupped Sora’s narrow shoulders in his hands and gently stroked the boy’s flesh with his thumbs. 

“It’s alright,” the shaman murmured. “Just breathe, child, breathe and let it out… let everything out…”

Pocahontas passed Kekata a small stone knife and Kairi lurched to her feet. 

“Wait!” she shouted.

“It is alright,” Kekata murmured and plucked the knife from Pocahontas’s long fingers. “It is not for him. It is for me.” Then, he drew a long shallow cut down the length of his palm and dripped the blood into the fire. The fire smoked and the flames blazed bright crimson, casting deep dark shadows on the walls of the teepee. Then, he began to chant and sing in his deep strong voice, passing his bloodied hand over the flames and keeping his other hand pressed lightly over Sora’s face. 

Sora’s mouth opened and a small sound escaped him. It was soft and quiet—a little animal sound, a puppy’s timid whimper, a kitten’s soft mewl, a baby’s cry. Kekata pressed his thumb to Sora’s lower lip, opening his mouth. Sora’s eyes remained closed, his breath rattling in his chest as he breathed deeply.

“Let it out, child,” the medicine man whispered. He spoke like a ventriloquist, speaking to Sora while somehow continuing to chant and sing. “It’s alright, just let it out.” Then, he said something strange and Kairi’s heart skipped several beats in her chest, stuttering painfully. “That man cannot hurt you anymore.”

Sora’s eyes flew open and stared right into Kekata’s wise face.

The medicine man nodded slowly, continuing. 

Pocahontas pressed her hand over her Claddagh mark. “I feel it again,” she told the medicine man.

Kekata nodded as if to say, ‘This is good. I meant for this to happen.’ He cupped the smoke in his bleeding hand and swept it over Sora like a blanket. “Sora? It’s alright. You’re afraid because you know he’s out there, but it’s alright, child.” 

Sora stared into Kekata’s face.

“That man can’t hurt you anymore,” Kekata said softly again.

Sora released the shining Keyblade and grasped Kekata’s frail shoulders tightly with both hands. For a moment, he clung to the shaman like he was the life preserver while Sora was a drowning man. His body trembled and then Kairi heard that sound again—a child’s sob, a small animal in pain. Sora broke apart visibly and then he threw himself backwards from Kekata, hugged himself tightly with both arms wrapped around his body, and screamed. 

He really screamed!

Goofy threw open the flap of the teepee. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Kairi threw herself across the small space between herself and Sora and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly. He clung to her, his fingers digging into her flesh like chips of ice, and he kept screaming. His voice was loud and terribly shrill in her ear, going deep into her heart and soul. 

She felt a scream in her chest, but swallowed it. 

“Sora!” Donald shouted, coming into the teepee behind Goofy. Stunned, both of King Mickey’s men remained standing there, staring at the prince as the first wave of real shattering emotion washed through and over him. 

His screaming continued.

It was the howling wail of a terrified child, of someone hurt beyond imagining, of eternal hellish suffering

Kairi’s flesh prickled with goose bumps because she knew what terrors haunted Sora’s heart—the pit, sleepless nights… What other horrors lurked inside him?

Pocahontas put her hands over her ears, dark hair pouring between her long fingers like inky water, but Kekata only smiled faintly as if to say, ‘This is good. This is alright.’ He placed one gnarled hand on Sora’s head and gently whispered, “It’s alright now, child. He can’t hurt you anymore. Just let it out.”

For the eternity that Sora screamed, only Kairi and Kekata didn’t lift their hands to cover their ears even though Kairi dearly wanted too, but Sora’s grip was holding her arms down. Kekata only smiled mysteriously. 

Then, after what felt like an endless amount of time but must have only been a few minutes, Sora fell silent and breathed heavily, shuddering. 

Slowly, he sat back from Kairi’s embrace ad looked around the teepee as if seeing it for the very first time. His blue gaze returned to Kairi’s face and filled with crystalline tears. Then, his lips parted and he breathed, “Kai… ri…” and slumped in her arms, unconscious.

**X:X:X**

(1) I always thought Pocahontas would make a way better princess than Alice. And I don’t want to hear about who the replacement princess should have been from anyone. It’s Pocahontas, get over it.

Well now, what the heck was that?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	32. The New World: Pt II

I’m glad everyone liked Pocahontas as the Secret Princess choice.

**X:The:X:New:X:World:X**

Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Pocahontas, Snow White, and Kekata sat around unconscious Sora beside the blazing fire in the teepee. Sora’s face was pure white now, unmarred by the tendrils of scar-like darkness that had until-recently marked his alabaster flesh. Even the blackened hand that he held the Keyblade with was pale and perfect again. All the darkness and stain had been washed from his body. He looked beautiful and ordinary, young and frail and hopelessly hurt lying there in the amber firelight. Tenderly, Kairi brushed his chocolate hair from his forehead.

“What was that?” Donald asked Kekata.

“I released the chains from his soul.”

“You mean his heart?” Kairi asked.

“No, his soul,” Kekata said with a small nod. “The pieces of it that were hanging against the cage of bones in his chest. I released them from their confines to become as much of a whole as possible.”

“Then, we have a heart and a soul?” Goofy asked.

“Of course,” Pocahontas put in. “Life, spirit, name, heart… There are an endless amount of pieces that make up living things.”

“And most of those pieces of Sora are missing,” Kekata added. “I sense shards of him inside his heart-weapon and inside you, Kairi.”

Kairi’s heart did that painful lurch again. “Just me?”

Kekata angled his head. “Why are you confused, child?”

The words to tell them all everything about Sora came to her lips, but stayed there, choking her. She felt a little cry deep in her heart, a child’s whisper, ‘Please… no… don’t…’ and she couldn’t do it. Sora’s secrets were so horrible that she wished with all her heart that she could un-know them, but they were her secrets now too. She felt the need and desire to protect not only the secrets, but to protect her friends from these horrible things. Instead, she shook her head.

“I just thought maybe all the Princesses of Heart were a part of his heart. Just me, though? You’re sure?” she asked.

Kekata nodded, his sharp eyes on her.

“How could Sora have any pieces of his heart or soul left?” Donald asked. “The Heartless eat all of that.”

Kekata eyed him.

“Don’t they?” Goofy ventured.

The medicine man passed his hands through the smoke and shaped what he captured in his hands into a beating heart. This, he divided into pieces and then scattered completely. “Actually, they do not. If the Heartless were to eat all of us, entirely, there would be nothing left.”

“But—” Kairi began.

“Don’t interrupt,” Pocahontas broke in and nodded an apology to Kekata.

Unperturbed by the interruption, the medicine man continued. “The Heartless devour the main parts of our hearts—our ability to speak, to relate to emotions, to express ourselves, to love and cherish and care. They leave behind slivers, mainly our ability to understand and the human emotions like hate, jealousy, and rage. This is how humans become Heartless. All that is left inside it feelings of loss and the need to fill it with what they have lost. This is why the Heartless crave the hearts of others and also how they get into hearts. They get in through darkness, through dark emotions and secrets—terrible things.”

Kairi swallowed, hear heart thundering.

In his unconsciousness, Sora whimpered and groaned, shifted, and then stilled.

Kairi gently brushed his hair from his damp face. 

Kekata continued, watching Kairi and Sora so intently that Kairi drew her hand back, embarrassed. “Then, the Heartless feel the loss of everything that made them human and they desire it. They become enraged and they devour other hearts hoping to fill the void.” He fell silent, watching the fire.

“How do you know all this?” Donald asked.

Kekata angled his head at Pocahontas. “Her heart is resilient, strong, and powerful. When the darkness tried to touch her, she connected to it and understood it. Understanding your enemy is the first step in defeating it. Pocahontas understands.”

Suddenly, Sora sat bolt upright, his mouth open as if his jaw was broken, and a terrible scream tore out of him. Goofy, Donald, Snow White, and Pocahontas covered their ears. Kairi’s eyes filled with tears—in Sora’s scream, she heard his small childish voice, begging, pleading, suffering… Kekata gently put his hands on Sora’s narrow shoulders and shook him gently. When this had no effect, he reached out for Kairi and she slid her hand into his strong wrinkled one. The strength of Kekata flowed into her body and heart and Sora’s cries went away inside her head. Sora’s scream halted abruptly and he sat there beside the fire, breathing hard, for a long moment.

Then, his bright blue eyes met Kairi’s and he whispered again, “Kairi.”

Donald’s jaw about returned to the Land of Dragons. His mouth was that far open. “H-he spoke!” the mage squawked. 

“Gawrsh,” was all Goofy managed.

“Is this something new?” Pocahontas asked.

Donald could only nod.

“All creatures speak,” Kekata said softly, “even if we do not know how to listen to them.”

Kairi met Kekata’s wise eyes. “Then, Sora has…?”

“He has always been able to communicate,” Kekata said with a small nod. “Even if you could not understand him.”

“Sora?” Donald whispered and Sora’s eyes met the mage’s gaze.

“That’s my name,” the prince whispered. His voice was sweet and soft, light and airy, but Kairi felt torrents of hurt and fear in his throat, making his voice strange and painful-sounding. “I know yours, too.”

Donald stared eagerly.

“You are Donald and that’s Goofy.” Sora’s eyes passed over everyone, speaking their names. When his eyes once again returned to Kairi, he clasped her hands tightly and whispered her name reverently. Then, he asked the only question she didn’t want to answer. “Where is Riku?”

Kairi’s heart thundered.

Sora placed his hand lightly over her breast. “Your heart… it is… throbbing…”

Kairi tore away from Sora, bolted to her feet, and tore from the teepee. 

Sora stared after her, his hands still outstretched desperately, but he didn’t get up to follow her. 

“Let me,” Snow White said gently to him and followed after Kairi.

“We’ve got to contact King Mickey,” Goofy said and produced the magic mirror from the inside of his shield. This, he passed to Donald who captured Sora’s elbow and towed him near the mirror, but Sora’s eyes remained focused after Kairi for a long time.

…

Snow White caught up with Kairi beneath the shelter of a beautiful weeping willow. Kairi was sitting at the edge of the pond bordering the willow, both arms around her legs and sobbing into her legs. Snow White sensed Kairi’s great pain even before she was close enough to touch her. Such pain… the pain was almost as great as the waves of horror she sometimes felt coming off of Sora. Her heart often read into the emotions of others—sometimes it was a help, but more often than not, it was a terrible curse. She lifted the long hem of her white mandarin gown and picked her way towards Kairi.

“Kairi, need some company?” Snow White asked.

“No, go away!”

Snow White sighed and crouched beside the sobbing girl. She gently touched Kairi’s shoulder, rubbed her back, and was just a comforting presence until Kairi was ready to turn to talk to her. It didn’t take very long before Kairi wiped her nose with the back of her hand and turned to Snow White. 

“What should I do?”

“About what?” Snow White asked gently.

“Riku,” Kairi sobbed. “He’s gone! He sold his heart to the darkness…”

Snow White stroked Kairi’s hair. “The Seven Princesses of Heart have been collected and the Keybearer is beginning to recover. Tomorrow, we’ll all go back to Disney Castle. I’m sure there’s something we can all do to bring him back.”

“But, what if we can’t?”

Snow White smiled faintly. “Have faith, Kairi. Have a little faith…”

The wind whispered through the willow’s long branches and it almost sounded like a voice. ‘Follow your path, child… just follow it…’ but it could have just been Kairi’s imagination. She sniffled, nodded, and allowed Snow White to pull her to her feet. Together, they left the beautiful glade.

…

“Show me King Mickey,” Donald said to the mirror firmly. The surface gleamed brightly and then the king’s mouse face appeared on the surface of highly-polished glass. Goofy and Sora crowded around, faces momentarily reflecting on the surface and blocking the image of the king. “Hello, your highness.”

“Hey Donald. How’s it going?” Mickey asked.

“Okay. We’ve found the last Princesses.”

“That’s fantastic. Should I send Aurora to pick you up? Where are you?”

“Don’t send her yet. We’re in The New World.”

“Oh? Was Pocahontas the last Princess of Heart?” 

Donald nodded.

“Fantastic.”

“There’s something else you should know, King Mickey.”

“Gawrsh,” Goofy put in. “It’s really something.”

“What?”

“We seemed to have recovered pieces of Sora’s heart and the medicine man, Kekata, pieced them into a whole.”

Mickey’s face was eager and pale. “And?”

“Sora’s speaking.”

“Wonderful!” the king shouted and then called to Minnie.

Sora peered down at the mirror. “Hello King Mickey,” he said softly.

Mickey beamed. “Sora, you should really call me Dad.”

Sora looked as if Mickey had struck him, his face pale as a fish’s belly and his eyes alighting with fear. “No…” he whispered. “I don’t want a father again…”

Donald pushed Sora away from the mirror when he saw the king’s stricken face. “He’s still coming around, your highness,” he said by way of explanation, but it didn’t explain everything—like the tears that began to make slow paths down Sora’s pale face or the way he wrapped his arms tightly around himself as if to hold his body together. A small childish whimper escaped his tightly clenched teeth and a small sob escaped his broken heart.

…

The others were still waiting in the teepee, having just gotten off the mirror with King Mickey when the girls returned. Kekata was making passes of smoke-filled hands over Pocahontas and her bright earthen eyes were filled with some strange light. When Snow White and Kairi entered, Sora got immediately to his feet and went to Kairi. He put his arms around her tightly and buried his face into her chest, pressing his ear over her heartbeat as the tears continued down his pale face. His sky-blue eyes were bright and fearful and Kairi threaded her fingers through his thick tresses.

“What happened?” Snow White asked, looking from Kairi and Sora to Donald and Goofy to Kekata and Pocahontas. “What’s going on?”

“Sora had a… breakdown,” Goofy said softly. “I think… gawrsh…”

“What do you mean?” Snow White asked.

“He saw King Mickey and the king asked Sora to call him ‘Father’ because he did adopt Sora, but Sora’s face filled up with terror and he said he didn’t want a father again,” Donald explained. “Then, he got like that.”

Kairi stroked Sora’s head. It was no wonder he didn’t want another father, considering the things his real father had done to him. The pit… the moldering kitten and sister… the sleep deprivation… the endless torment… “It’s alright, Sora,” she whispered into his hair.

His grip on her tightened and a small broken sound escaped him.

Pocahontas rose to her feet. “We should go to Disney Castle now.”

“But, what about your world?” Snow White asked.

Kekata smiled softly. “No, our people are strong and powerful. We will be alright until all this is over. Go, children, follow your paths.”

The willow’s whispering voice returned to Kairi’s mind, twining through her brain like a gentle touch. She shivered and squeezed Sora tighter against herself. She felt as if their flesh was going to join into one person—she felt that close to him. No wonder, she had the shards of his shattered heart in her chest.

“Call King Mickey then,” Snow White said softly. 

“Tell him to send Aurora to pick us up in the gummi-ship,” Kairi added.

“Alright,” Donald said with a nod. “Show me the king.”

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	33. The Return to Disney Castle

Jeez, it’s about time everyone got home, huh?

This is now the KEEP IT STRAIGHT chapter. Confused? Refer to here.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

When they returned home to Disney Castle courtesy of Aurora, they found that King Mickey had been quite busy in their absence. He had added another wing to his castle to accommodate the Princesses of Heart. But most remarkable was the secret hall he build beneath his throne. The Cornerstone of Light, he called it, was a fantastical sphere of glass that was constantly filled with the bright light brought on by the presences of the Princesses of Heart. (It seemed that when Aurora arrived, everything was fine. But by the time Belle and Ella arrived, there was just too much Light in the castle and Mickey had to think of some way to harness and contain it.) The Princesses’ hearts, especially when several of them were close together, gave off incredible power akin to that of the Keyblade. King Mickey planned to use the Cornerstone as a sort of protective weapon to help other worlds until a time that the darkness could be completely defeated.

Sora stood beside it, his face catching the flashing light, with his hand pressed lightly to the glass surface.

The Princesses of Heart—Aurora, Belle, Ella, Jasmine, Snow White, Pocahontas, and Kairi—were gathered behind him.

King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Goofy, and Donald were assembled just behind them.

Waiting in the throne room above were Aurora’s owl Phillip, Beast also known as Adam by Belle, Jasmine’s tiger Rajah, Mulan, and Pocahontas’s two animal friends—the raccoon, Meeko, and a green hummingbird, Flit.

It was a strange sort of assembly.

After King Mickey finished showing Kairi, Sora, and the others what he had accomplished while they were gone, everyone assembled in the dining room (which was quite a squeeze even at the king’s massive table) to discuss what to do next. They needed to compare notes and experiences, decide on a plan of future action, talk about allies and forces that could be called to battle, recap everything that had happened throughout, and just generally play catch-up with each other.

“So, what’s been happening?” Kairi began after she finished recounting their travels from world to world. 

Aurora pulled her voice together. “Well, the Princesses have been working together a lot to refine our Heart Powers. It’s going really well, actually!” She grinned broadly and Phillip ruffled his feathers as if to disagree. She relented sheepishly, “It’s been a little—shall we say—trial and error?”

King Mickey winced.

“Is that so?” Kairi asked, grinning.

Aurora blushed. “Well, yeah. I’ve got it under control now. Check it out!” Then, like an eager child, Aurora jumped to her feet and spread her arms. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with a strange gust of warm wind, two bright wings of light arched from Aurora’s back. They beat down and Aurora was lifted into the air, her hair and clothing hovering around her thin body. For a moment, her panties were clearly visible before Belle reminded her tactfully that the world could see both London and France. Then, Aurora slapped both hands down on her skirt and quickly put her feet back on the ground. “I guess I’m still working the kinks out of it,” she said with a small laugh.

“Figuring out their powers has been quite the adventure,” King Mickey said.

Aurora grinned. “I’ve had some problems, but thanks to Belle, we’ve all got it under control.”

Belle cleared her throat, laying her hand over the paw Beast placed on her shoulder.

“Well,” Aurora relented. “Mostly under control…”

Belle nodded. “It’s true and what is remarkable is that all our powers are so different. My heart can blast out a beam of light.”

“I can fly!” Aurora said cheerfully, catching Phillip on her forearm and stroking his feathers.

“I can deploy an orb around myself to keep the Heartless back,” Ella explained, fingering some blonde hair.

“I can turn my swords into amazing weapons full of light,” Jasmine told the others.

“My heart can form a massive and powerful shield,” Snow White said.

“I understand the Heartless,” Pocahontas said softly. 

They all looked to Kairi, but she shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to harness any power in my heart.”

“Maybe,” Pocahontas remarked. “You don’t have a power like we do.” Her bright chocolate eyes focused on Sora. “Maybe your power is what you’ve been able to do with the Keybearer. You are restoring his heart to him.”

Mickey nodded thoughtfully. “That could be.”

“But, Sora still has a long way to go and I’ve been with him for over a month,” Kairi protested.

“Maybe it takes time. You are getting back the shattered heart of the Keybearer,” Ella said softly. 

“That is true,” Belle said. “When I restored the hearts of the people in Adam’s castle, I was only restoring normal hearts that the Heartless cared nothing for and that took a while for me as well. I’m sure the Heartless are hanging on to what they have of Sora’s heart ferociously.”

Jasmine nodded and stroked Rajah’s head. “Especially since it was so easy to unlock these powers,” she added. “If you had something like we do—a weapon or a shield or,” she glanced at Aurora, “even wings—I’m sure you would have uncovered it by now.”

“There must be something different about your heart,” Ella said and folded her hands neatly.

Pocahontas tucked some black hair behind her ear. The hummingbird came to perch on her hand and she fingered his green feathers. “Your heart is weighted down by Sora’s. That’s why your power won’t come out.”

“What do you mean?” Kairi whispered. There was no way Pocahontas could know about the deal she had made with the Keyblade, to carry Sora’s heavy heart.

Sora’s bright blue eyes focused on Kairi’s face.

Pocahontas’s gaze flashed. “You know what I mean, Kairi. You took his heart into your chest in order to protect and restore it, but it is blocking your powers of light because of the deep darkness in his heart,” she explained. “His heart is tainting you.”

Kairi pressed her fingers to her mouth, stifling the stricken expression she knew was trying to escape into her face. “W-what?”

Pocahontas shook her head and lifted her raccoon into her lap. “The Keybearer himself is tainted and he’s supposed to be like us. He’s supposed to have a heart of light.”

“How do you know that?” King Mickey demanded.

“I understand,” she said.

“So,” Ella put in. “What does that mean?”

“Who knows…”

Then, thankfully, the subject of discussion turned away from Kairi’s possession of Sora’s damaged heart. After all, Sora was still starting to come around, taint or no taint, and Kairi was still restoring his heart, taint in her or no taint. Terribly though, the subject turned to Riku and his absence. 

“Kairi, where is Riku?” King Mickey asked and immediately knew he had asked the wrong question by the way Kairi’s smiling face fell like a shattered plate.

“He sold his heart to the darkness,” Donald ventured.

“What?”

Goofy nodded, produced the magic mirror Beast had given them, and said the words, “Show us Riku.”

Kairi’s head snapped up. “We could have seen him,” she gasped, but Goofy had already handed the mirror to King Mickey. She saw the horror reflected in the good king’s eyes and didn’t want him to tell them what he saw in the mirror’s beautiful surface, but he sighed heavily and did anyway.

“It’s Maleficent. She’s taken hold of him,” King Mickey said softly.

Aurora gasped. “No.”

“Who’s Maleficent?” Belle asked.

“She used to be a friend,” Mickey said. “Then, she sought power in the darkness. I threw her from her native world with Leon’s help.”

“She took shelter in my world,” Aurora said sharply.

“I am sorry,” Mickey said. “It seems she is once again choreographing destruction. We should have destroyed her when we had the chance (1).” He banged his fist on the table.   
Queen Minnie laid her hand gently over her husband’s hand. This was the first time she had torn her eyes from Sora, but she hadn’t had a chance to speak with her adopted son yet. Mickey was actually preventing his love from talking to Sora after what Sora had said when he spoke with him via the mirror in The New World. He didn’t want to expose Minnie to Sora when he pulled away, hugged himself tightly, and began to cry. It would break Minnie’s heart.

“So, what now?” Mulan asked. 

“Now… I think you’re all hungry,” King Mickey said. “We should eat.”

**X:X:X**

(1) Ever notice that in movies and books, the good guys would always do so much better and be hurt so much less if they would just kill the bad guy when they had the chance? [Bruce Willis (in Die Hard) is the only good guy who actually blows them away the first chance he gets! Take a page from his book, guys…]

Due for the recap, deal with it.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	34. Sora's Voice

I think this might actually be over soon. I mean, face it, once Sora goes through all the hellish worlds and finally gets to Hollow Bastion, there really isn’t that much going on. We find boss, we fight boss, we win, we get epic end of game music and lose the girl. (What hero loses the girl?! I’m gonna have to change that…)

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

After the meeting, Queen Minnie slithered away from her husband and went after Sora as he wandered the grounds even though Mickey had practically begged her not to talk to Sora. She caught up with him in the garden. She took Sora’s hands gently and smiled through her happy tears. “Sora, sweetheart…”

His bright blue eyes met hers. “Yes?”

She gasped, sucking in a desperate breath of air, and squeezed his fingers tightly. “You… you spoke!”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and tried to pull his hands away.

Minnie hugged him tightly. “Sora, Sora,” she sobbed.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, hanging limp in her arms.

“I’m just so happy.”

“You’re not supposed to cry when you’re happy. You’re supposed to cry when someone’s hurting you or when you hurt someone else,” Sora murmured and gently touched her face. “Crying isn’t a happy thing.”

“Sora…”

“Yes?”

She sniffled. “You’re so… strange.”

This time, he successfully pulled away from her and turned away. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Sora!” Minnie gasped and hugged him from behind. “Don’t say that, Sora. You’re beautiful. You’re wonderful.”

A shudder ran through his slender body. “No…” he whispered.

“You are, sweetie. You’re my treasure, my precious boy.”

“No!” He yanked away from her and fell over his long legs like a colt learning to walk for the first time. He crashed down to the cobblestones and cradled his bleeding hands against his chest. “No! Don’t say those things to me!”

“Sora—”

“No!” He clasped his hands over his ears, half-screaming. “No!”

Minnie reached for him. “Sora—”

He tore himself to his feet, turned from her, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Within moments, Sora’s small body had disappeared among the flowers and the burgeoning garden. Minnie was left standing alone, again, and she had no one to blame but herself. Mickey had known that this was going to happen. Sora must have done the same thing to him.

…

Sora panted for breath, hunkered beneath the safety of a rose bush with blood-colored blooms. He looked at his bloodied hands without really seeing them. Everything felt so… misplaced. He didn’t know what these feelings were inside his body.

‘P-please, stop it. D-don’t do this to me anymore…’ he heard his own voice pleading.

‘Why, precious? Don’t you like what I’m making you into?’

‘N-no!’ His own scream.

Then, cool laughter. ‘Perfect, just perfect…’

Gasping, Sora pressed farther back into the safe womb of the dangerous rose bush. Bloody petals fell around him, falling like snow except bloody and red and tainted. Things were twisted. Why did he feel like he had never felt anything before? Had he been dead up till now? An ache stabbed through his empty chest.

…

It was great to finally take a hot shower and lay in a real bed with fresh sheets in her own room in the new Princesses of Heart wing of Disney Castle. The world was dark and quiet, soothing and still, and not even the screams of the Heartless could be heard. But still, Kairi couldn’t sleep.

She got out of bed and went to the window, looking out at the dark night beyond the glass. 

Donald and Goofy were out there patrolling and Belle was watching over the Cornerstone of Light that the king had created. Sora was milling through the empty halls, silent still even though he could speak now, carrying his Keyblade. Everything was almost alright.

Almost…

“Riku,” Kairi whispered, her breath lightly fogging the glass.

Her door eased open, slowly, creaking slightly, and she whirled around sharply. Sora was standing in the threshold. For the very first time, he was wearing pajamas and had left his Keyblade in his room. He looked strange out of his armor and unarmed. He looked… like he did in his past—thin and pale and frail, and oh-so hurt. His glow-in-the-dark cerulean eyes were untainted by gold, his beautiful skeleton-thin body was untouched by any tendrils of darkness, and his normally-expressionless face was tinged with pale fear.

“Sora,” she whispered. “You startled me. Is something wrong?”

He shook his head, chocolate tresses feathering against his cheeks.

“Then what is it, Sora?”

“You are… sad,” he whispered. Even now, she wasn’t used to hearing his voice. It was so soft and sweet, tender and fragile. This poor boy… all she could remember were his screams in the past—‘Please, don’t do this to me! Please, stop it! Don’t!’ 

“I am,” Kairi confessed. Their hearts were connected. There was no use lying to him.

“Because he’s gone?”

Kairi shook her head lightly. “Because he sold his soul to the darkness. Why would Riku do something like that?”

“He… cares for you a lot.”

“I know.”

“He… was tricked,” Sora whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“Pocahontas told me. She knows what they did, but they want to keep it from you so you focus on the battle ahead.”

Kairi’s eyes widened. “What?” she breathed.

“The darkness told him that I hurt you, that I ate your heart, and that it was the only way he could bring you back,” Sora whispered. “I didn’t, did I?”

Kairi shook her head. “No, of course not. I made a deal with… the Keyblade.”

Sora nodded softly.

“So, Riku’s trying to save me… I have to do something to bring him back!”

Sora shook his head. “No, don’t go.”

“Sora, he’s my friend. I have to help him.”

Sora reached out to her, his arms lean and as thin as twigs. How did he wield the Keyblade again? “Please, I’ll die…”

Kairi’s heart pounded. “What? No you won’t.”

“Yes, I will. If you go, he’ll come here and kill me. That’s how he’s going to get your heart back from me, kill me… I’m a bad person.”

“Oh Sora,” Kairi whispered and embraced him tightly. “That’s not going to happen.”

“It will if you go,” he whispered into her throat. “Pocahontas knows… Just like you know.”

“I don’t know any of that, Sora.”

He shook his head. “Not that…”

“Then what?”

“You know what he did to me…”

Kairi’s heart skipped a beat. “Sora, listen—”

“No!” he gasped, squeezing her tightly. “No. No, don’t say it out loud.”

“Sora, have you ever told anyone about… what happened to you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to remember anything else.”

“You don’t remember.”

“I do, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to know where that man is…”

Kairi hugged him tightly. “It’s alright, Sora. I’m going to help you, but I need you to help me.”

“How?”

“Do you know where Riku is?”

Sora shook his head.

“Is there any way we can help him?”

“I don’t know. Pocahontas would know…”

“Sora, why don’t you get some sleep?”

He jolted, shuddering. “I can’t sleep.”

“I’ll stay with you—”

“No! I can’t… It hurts!”

Kairi gently shook him. “It won’t hurt. You’re not with that man anymore.”

Sora shook his head. “No… it’ll hurt me…” Suddenly, he pulled away from her and turned sharply away. “I have to go,” he whispered. Then, without another sound, he fled the room like a ghost and Kairi was completely alone again.

**X:X:X**

Well, how do we like Sora speaking?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	35. Preparation for Battle and Departure

Set up for the big final battle. I plan to wrap this up by forty chapters, but you know how that goes with me… Don’t hold your breath.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

“Okay, I can see you’re all ready to go, but there’s one big problem,” King Mickey said sternly to the assembly of warriors in front of him, Sora and Kairi as the front, holding hands tightly and looking incredibly fierce. (Well, Kairi looked fierce. Sora was looking around like he wasn’t exactly certain of what was going on. He might have had some shards of his heart back and he was speaking, but it was all on a very low emotional level still. Pocahontas assured Mickey that Sora would come around in time.)

The Princesses of Heart were all outfitted and ready to go, fresh-faced and well-rested, armed and dangerous. Beware women on a mission.

Donald and Goofy were armed up. Wild horses wouldn’t keep them from going with Sora and Kairi, so there was no point in getting them to stay behind. And secretly, Mickey was happy that his most trusted men would be with his adopted son and the Princesses. It couldn’t hurt to have them along.

But it had been decided that bringing an entire army was unnecessary with the power of the Princesses and the Keybearer. Even Mulan and Shang, who wanted desperately to go along, were being left behind in Disney Castle with King Mickey and the others.

They all looked great, too.

Donald and Goofy, being warriors already, were outfitted in their usual uniforms and armor and carried their usual weapons though Donald had added some things magically. He had strengthened Goofy’s shield and equipped it with razor spikes to it was not only a shield but a deadly weapon. In the pouch at his waist, Donald carried a number of glowing bottles and jars filled with magic that would restore his health and stamina when he became exhausted by his magic. 

Aurora, her wings of light gleaming in stark contrast to the dark owl that perched on her leather-plated shoulder, was outfitted in the clothing Minnie had designed for her. The slit-skirt was bright pink, showing the creamy expanse of her legs on either side. The corset top that no one could talk her out of was deep black, laced up with silver ribbons and the Claddagh mark on her breast gleamed with the glow of her light-wings. She carried her mother’s dagger and short sword at the leather belt at her waist. Her golden hair tumbled loose down her shoulders, cast deep shadows over her purple-blue eyes, and framed her face though Belle was busily pulling it back with a silver ribbon.

Belle, once she finished with Aurora’s hair, allowed herself to be lifted back onto Beast’s broad shoulder and hung onto his thick purple cloak tightly. She was wearing soft breaches, a light white linen shirt with a thick leather vest laced up tightly over her chest, and heavy boots on her feet. They had decided that a skirt was not in her best interest if Beast was going to carry her—they didn’t need any wardrobe malfunctions. Even though Belle’s main forms of protection were Beast and her heart-weapon, Mickey insisted on her learning a weapon-skill and carrying it into battle. At her side, she carried a slew of small knives in a leather pouch.

Ella was grateful to be out of Belle’s clothing and back into a style she liked. Long dresses and aprons were not quite her thing. Instead, she chose a leotard in pale blue that left her legs completely bare from hip to ankle with long sleeves and heavy leather gloves to protect her hands from the spear she now carried. Mickey had designed a rig for her spear that would hold it on her back and leave her hands free. Looped lightly around her hips was a small sheaf of pale blue cotton that she tied tightly and fastened a belt over to make sure it wouldn’t go anywhere. On her feet, she wore heavy ankle boots. Her golden hair, unlike Aurora’s, was scraped safely back from her face and out of her eyes into a severe bun on the top of her head.

Jasmine’s wardrobe hadn’t needed much altering. Her harem pants were perfect and after a slight alteration to her top that would keep it from falling down and fastening the scarf she wore to cover the scars on her back, she was ready to go. She was also already very adept with her twin scimitars as her weapons plus the added weapon of her heart. Rajah was the one who needed outfitting. With some difficulty, they had fashion a light but strong armor for the tiger to protect him from the Heartless while he fought at his mistress’s side.

Pocahontas remained in her ensemble of animal skins, feathers, and leather. On her shoulder, her raccoon perched, waiting with quivering whiskers while the hummingbird was a green blue beside her head. Though Minnie had convinced her to exchange her stone weapons for metal ones, a dagger and spear to replace her own, they could not prevent her from embracing the oldest and noblest of her traditions—war paint. She was brightly painted in red and gold and blue, still barefoot, with her Claddagh mark shining faintly, and somehow looked more ready for battle than anyone else, even Donald and Goofy.

Snow White, like Aurora, had required a change of clothes from her white mandarin gown into something a little more appropriate for battle. Minnie had selected a short skirt in pale cream with a puff-sleeved white top. Since Snow White had perfected the art of her shield, they allowed her to go into battle without a weapon. If anything happened, Snow White was the sure fallback, the safety net. In case of anything, they knew the Heartless would not be able to get through her shield.

Kairi carried her bow and quiver, Riku’s small dagger, and the shards of Sora’s heart in her chest. At her side, practically her heart-weapon since they were now bonded on an unknowable level, was Sora. He was back in his light armor, carrying his Keyblade, and somehow looking slightly nervous. It was as if he knew something the rest of them didn’t, but Kairi’s aura more than overshadowed his. In men’s clothing, heavy breaches, leather vest, and tightly-fitted red shirt, she looked more than ready for battle.

Everything was ready… except one thing…

“WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO GO!” Mickey shouted over the murmur of the gathering. “We don’t know where the Heart of the Darkness is. We can’t find them to fight them. We need more time!”

“Use the mirror,” Beast growled. 

“The mirror?”

“Yes,” Belle added. “Tell it to show you the Heart of Darkness.”

For a moment, everyone hesitated while Mulan ran back to the castle to fetch the magic mirror and then returned in a blur. Mickey held the mirror in his hands for a moment, hesitating, before finally speaking the words. 

“Show me the Heart of Darkness.”

All around them, the sound of groaning and grinding came as if the world was locking again, but that wasn’t possible. Was it? Sora clung to Kairi’s hand desperately. Then, streaming tendrils of darkness shot from the mirror, lashing about wildly and clawing up into the sky until the small army was cast in deep bruise-like shadows. Then, those tendrils of darkness morphed into a clawed black hand that reared up over them threateningly. 

Donald and Goofy dove sidelong out from beneath the shadows of the hand, into relative safety.

Sora’s fingers dug into Kairi’s hand and she heard him whisper pleadingly, “No…” 

Belle folded her hands over her chest for a moment and released the beam of her heart into the blackness, but it didn’t do anything.

Snow White threw up her arms and her shield, but the hand reached straight through it, unperturbed. 

Those clawed black fingers slammed down over their small group like a cage, digging into the ground. 

Someone screamed. 

Aurora’s owl tore from her shoulder and attacked the hand, shrieking. 

But nothing swayed the darkness closing it. It clenched them up in a tight black fist, squeezing away all the light and hope in the world. Then, in the that endless darkness, a hot tearing wind ripped at them. Kairi heard Aurora shouting, her voice growing distant. Belle was yelling for Beast and they too were getting farther and farther away. Then, tearing pain seared into Kairi’s arm where Sora was holding tightly to her. This thing… it was trying to tear them all apart, separate them. 

Kairi grabbed Sora’s wrist with her other hand and felt his grip close down over hers desperately. She pulled him close and his arms went tightly around her. Everywhere their bodies touched, searing pain tore through them. 

A cold voice whispered, “Let go. Just let him go…”

Sora whimpered, “Please, don’t.”

Kairi held him even tighter even as the pain made her fingers go numb and cold. The tearing continued until she didn’t think she could bear it anymore. The shouts and screams of the others were gone and there was nothing but dark silence around them and that voice, whispering bile and acid. Sora slipped a little in her grasp and she felt his nails raking into her flesh.

“Stop it!” Kairi screamed.

Blinding light leaped out of her chest, skipping wildly through the darkness. It went through the blackness and found Aurora and Phillip, trapped and snarled in tendrils of thick purple darkness. The light shot into Aurora’s chest and a moment later, her bright wings erupted from her shoulders and she tore free of the darkness. Then, in a bright flash of light, Aurora was gone. The shard of light that had come from Kairi darted through the vast darkness, freeing each of the Princesses and then vanished back inside her chest.

“Fine,” the voice crooned, “Then fall into darkness with him.”

Then, Kairi and Sora were falling together. The wind tearing through Kairi’s blood-colored hair until she felt as if her eyes were filled with blood. A scream of pure panic flew from Sora’s mouth, his fingers dug into her like knives, and they crashed down into deep dark cold water.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	36. The Six Princesses sans Keybearer

Short chapter to set up the sides. Next one is long though.

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

Aurora hit the ground hard in a cloud of dust, air, and light. The air rushed from her lungs on impact, stirring up more dust. Overhead, Phillip wheeled in the bruised purple-black-red sky, crying out mournfully in search of the others. Aurora started to sit up, but someone else crashed down on top of her out of nowhere. Again, the air rushed out of her lungs with a woof. 

“Ah, Aurora! I’m so sorry!” Snow White quickly clambered off of Aurora and helped the other girl to her feet, brushing her off. “Are you alright?”

“Just fine,” Aurora said and lifted her arm for Phillip to perch. “Where are we?”

Belle appeared beside them in a swirl of air and light, landing gently on her feet. “I have no idea.”

“How come you landed like that?” Snow White asked, picking a leaf out of her short dark hair. 

“Yeah, we got dumped on our faces,” Aurora snapped. 

“I don’t know that either,” Belle said. 

The world around them was strange. They were standing on a flat stone plain, stretching out as far as the eye could see and there was a cold wet breeze sweeping in. Overhead, the sky was mottled with dark clouds and colored in purples, blacks, reds, and blues. What was this place? The End of the Worlds? Maybe this was what was left over after the Heartless devoured a world… In that case, what had this place used to be?

“What is this place?” Belle breathed.

In the air above them, Ella appeared, giving a yelp of surprise and warning. Aurora, Snow White, and Belle all tried to scramble out of the way, but gravity often wins and Ella crashed down on top of the trio, only Phillip was able to escape into the safety of the empty sky. Groaning, Aurora was once again at the bottom of the heap and Snow White pulled everyone to their feet. Belle dusted herself off with the patience of a mother. 

“Why does this keep happening?” Aurora mumbled, not nearly as patient as Belle.

“I don’t know,” Belle said softly. 

A few feet away, Jasmine appeared with Rajah behind her. She quickly came to join the others. “Where are we, guys?”

“We don’t know,” Belle said. 

“Where’s Pocahontas?” Jasmine asked. “And Beast?”

“We don’t know that either.”

“What about Sora and Kairi?”

“Let’s just leave it at we know nothing about anything that’s going on,” Aurora put in because the question and answer session didn’t show any signs of ending.

For a moment, the five of them stared at each other. 

“Where do we go from here?” Pocahontas’s voice rang out suddenly as she walked up to them, her dark hair a swirling curtain. Her raccoon scampered at her feet, but the hummingbird was nowhere to be seen.

“Good, we’re all here now,” Ella said. 

“What about Sora and Kairi?” Jasmine asked. 

“They’re alright. Flit is with them,” Pocahontas said.

“The hummingbird?”

The Indian Princess nodded. 

“Then, you know where they are?”

She nodded again. 

“Where?” Aurora asked quickly.

Pocahontas lifted her face to the sky. “In the Heart of Darkness, in the past…”

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

Maleficent chuckled as she peered into the green glass orb. So, the Princesses and the Keybearer had gone into the Heart of Darkness. Only… something strange had happened… The Keybearer and one of the Princesses had been separated from the others. 

Riku paced impatiently behind her. “When are we going to kill Sora? I need to save Kairi.”

“Patience, my pet,” the witch said. “The time will come.”

“I’m tired of waiting. Kairi is my friend! I’ve waited long enough. I want to do it now!” Riku shouted. “Send me after them!”

“No.”

Since Riku had glimpsed Kairi in Agrabah, holding Sora’s hand, he had become even more desperate to get to her and save her, but Maleficent kept making him wait and Riku had never been a patient person. She insisted they needed to gather forces, to make an army of darkness to take down the Princesses of Heart and the Keybearer. But Riku was tired of waiting! He grabbed for her staff. “I’ll send myself if you don’t!” 

“Silence!” Maleficent roared and lifted the staff high. 

A shiver went through Riku’s body and suddenly, he couldn’t move anymore. “W-what did you do to me?”

Maleficent chuckled. “I always liked it better when the pawns do exactly as you tell them. Free will is so overrated.”

Then, everything around Riku fell away. The last thing he heard was Maleficent’s pet crow shrieking and its golden eyes gleamed in the darkness for one heartbreaking moment. Then, Maleficent’s voice rang through Riku’s skull painfully. 

“Ansem, I deliver this vessel to you. Use it as you will.”

“Thank you, Maleficent. You will be rewarded…”

Then, there was nothing but tearing pain as space was made inside Riku’s chest for the foreign presence. The darkness filled Riku up and took over his heart and soul. Soon, there was nothing of Riku left inside that body. The shaped changed and Maleficent swept into a low bow of black robes. 

“My liege,” she murmured.

“Here is your reward… your eternal reward…”

As if from a distance, Riku heard Maleficent scream.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW!


	37. The Dark Heart of the Keybearer?

Ah, the truth of the matter.

**X:The:X:Strange:X:Place:X**

The icy water filled Kairi’s lungs and mouth, nose and throat, filled up every inch of emptiness in her body. The cold seeped into her and it was the cold of death. The only heat was the burning fire of Sora’s body clutched against her. The waves rocked them, tearing them apart, and Sora slid from Kairi’s grip. For a moment, desperately, she clung to his hand. His blue eyes glowed through the water, shining desperately. But she couldn’t hold on any longer. His nails raked into her.

Sora was torn from her grip and rushed away through the water.

Kairi tried to follow him, tried to swim after him, but the water spirited her away on the waves. Kicking wildly, she broke the surface and gasped in a hot breath of dry air before the waves pulled her under again. It felt like an eternity before she got another breath into her starving lungs. The waves then released her and her body smashed into the sand. Choking and gasping, she dragged herself up onto the beach, breathing hard and weighed down by the freezing water.

She staggered to her feet and screamed, “Sora!”

There was no answer, just the vast echoing silence of the endless sea. 

Kairi had assumed she was back in the ruined island where Sora and his tormenter lived in that horrible little house, but when she looked up, everything had changed. Before, the island had been ruined by time and the weather of the ocean, but now… it was reminiscent of Wonderland—twisted and snarled beyond repair. The beach to her left broke off into a jagged purple cliff and the ocean beyond the broken ground was deep poisonous black. The palm trees were twisted and blackened, as if burned. From what she could see, the town was still aged and broken, but still standing. What had happened here? Was this still the past or was it the present?

“Sora!” she screamed again.

Still, there was only silence.

Kairi stumbled through the sand and into the ruined town. The black cat was still there, sitting in the middle of the road with its tail twitching back and forth in the dust. Its bright golden eyes were watching her closely as she approached, but the cat made no move. Unnerved, Kairi passed it easily.

Sora’s house was standing sinisterly in the middle of the block, dark windows like eyes, watching… like the cat. 

“Sora!”

Nothing, just the sound of the distant sea and the breaking of the world as all reason here crumbled. 

Then, she heard a shrill childish scream and saw flashing shapes in the upstairs windows of the house. Gasping desperately, Kairi tore into the house, found the crooked stairs going up, and raced up them. She tripped and the broken boards bit into her shins. Even so, Kairi burst into the upper room, shouting for that man to stop tormenting Sora, but as before. It was to no avail. She was a ghost here an she could do nothing to affect what was going on around her, even though she once again tried to desperately tackle the man to the ground. 

“Stop it!” Sora screamed. Kairi saw that it was not the Sora she knew, but the innocent child who had been endlessly tormented in the basement below. His body was hideously beaten, black with bruises and his back was viciously cut up as if someone had whipped him. He was skeleton-thin, starved within an inch of his young life. “Stop it!” 

“Sora, if you want to live, you’ll let me help you. You’ll bleed to death if you don’t let me see it,” the man said patiently.

“I don’t care! Get away from me!”

“Now, now, Sora. You don’t want all our hard work to go to waste, do you?”

“Get back!” Sora screamed. “Get away from me!”

Kairi saw it then. A deep jagged cut ran the length of his arm from wrist to elbow, bleeding both freely and heavily. Sora had one hand clasped over the wound and held a long bloody butcher knife in his injured hand. Had he tried to commit suicide? Or had that man carved into his body?

“Now, Sora,” the man said and took a step towards him. “We’ve succeeded. I won’t hurt you anymore. Now, give me the knife.”

Sora brandished the blade. “Get away! Don’t come any closer!”

The man grinned. “What are you going to do, Sora? Will you kill me?”

Sora’s face grew chalk-pale. “No,” he whispered.

“Just give me the knife. We’ll get you fixed up.”

Sora’s blue eyes roiled, darting left and right in search of escape, but the man stepped toward him. Sora lashed out like a cornered animal with that knife, but didn’t inflict any damage. “No! Get away from me! Don’t touch me! Don’t hurt me anymore!”

“Don’t worry, Sora. It’s over.”

Kairi’s heart began to race and pound. Something bad was going to happen…

The man took a step towards Sora. “How would you like some dinner? I’ll make your favorite.”

“Get back,” Sora whispered. “Don’t hurt me…”

“It’s over. Come with me. I’ll make you happy, Sora.” Then man was close enough to touch Sora now and he did, laying his long brutal fingers on Sora’s thin shoulder.

The response was immediate. Screaming like an animal, Sora lashed out with the knife and he slashed the man thinly across the chest. “No! Get away from me! I hate you!”

Even as he pressed his hand to his bleeding chest, the man grinned. “That’s it, Sora. It’s over now.”

For a moment, Sora stared at him, uncomprehending. Then, an awful scream of agony tore from his throat. The knife clattered from Sora’s fingers and he clasped both hands over his chest, dropping to his knees and curling in on himself in agony. His screams went on and on, forever, tearing through Kairi’s heart and skull. Outside the window, she heard the horrible yowl of a cat joining Sora’s screams of agony. 

The man just grinned and then laughed. “I’ve done it! I’ve cultivated darkness in the purest heart, in the heart of the Keybearer!”

Sora just kept screaming. Then, suddenly, Kairi saw the darkness bleeding through Sora’s pale flesh and his screams abruptly choked off. Like a marionette on strings, he pulled to his feet and lifted his head with a snap. His beautiful blue eyes were deep terrible gold and his mouth cracked open, limned to the brim with razor-sharp teeth. Then, a terrible guttural growl escaped his throat as if he had swallowed broken glass. The wound on his arm began to stitch itself together and the blood everywhere turned black.

“Heartless,” Kairi whispered.

There was a flash of light, bright white, but as it grew and overwhelmed the room, it began to tint black and red with filth and hate. When the light faded completely to black and then vanished, Sora was holding the Keyblade in his twisted clawed hands. His mouth curved in an awful grin and the man’s face showed the first hint of fear.

“Ansem,” a voice boomed through the room. It wasn’t Sora’s voice—it was the Keyblade’s. “You have done terrible things. Now, PERISH!” 

Sora dove for Ansem, a wretched keening cry escaping his mouth, but Ansem brought his knee up into Sora’s gut. Then, he grabbed Sora by his hair and hurled him at the window. For a moment, things seemed to move in slow motion though it must have happened very quickly. Sora’s small broken body crashed through the glass like shattering stars and Ansem laughed wildly. Kairi ran to the window and looked out, shouting Sora’s name, but as always, it seemed as if an invisible hand grabbed him out of the air an instant before he hit the ground. Sora was set gently on his feet.

His bright golden eyes looked up into the broken window where Ansem was looking down on his creation. Then, Sora lifted the Keyblade and swung it at nothing. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the house began to groan and tremble and then broke apart.

Kairi saw Ansem wave his hand and open a black rift in space and time. He stepped through it and was gone by the time the house collapsed. 

Like a true ghost, all the ruin passed through Kairi harmlessly and she found herself standing in the midst of the rubble, unharmed. 

Sora went through the small town, swinging his Keyblade wildly, and everything around him was demolished into ruin. As the houses collapsed, the people inside were killed and Kairi watched as the Heartless began to fill the streets. 

This… this was how the darkness had begun. 

Sora had created the darkness. (1)

He reached the beach and stood there with the Heartless swarming around his haunted body for a long moment. Behind him, the ruin of this small strange place piled into a heap not unlike the end of the world. There was no sound save the zsash-zsash of the ocean and then, the soft distant mewl of a cat. 

Through the army of dark Heartless, the black cat made its way to Sora. There, it rubbed against his legs and Sora’s golden gaze turned to the cat slowly. For a moment, he and the cat stared at each other and Kairi feared that Sora would lift that Keyblade and kill the cat, but he did no such thing. Instead, he slowly knelt and reached out his ugly clawed hands to the cat. The creature rubbed against his palms, purring, and Sora gently cradled the innocent creature against his chest. 

Then, he turned his gaze back over his ruined town and his golden eyes filled with tears. As the tears ran down his face, the gold washed from his eyes and the darkness bled from his skin into a puddle on the ground. Before long, Sora was standing there cradling the black cat, crying and looking pure and beautiful. Around him, the army of Heartless surged past as if to go into the ocean and swim away. 

Still holding the cat in one arm, Sora picked up the Keyblade and swung it at the Heartless, but nothing happened. He turned back to the rubble of his town and swung the Keyblade again. This time, the ruin all shaped into a ruined castle and the Heartless were pulled in beneath it like a prison. Kairi could hear them screaming. 

Then, something rather strange happened. The cat leaped down from Sora’s arms and sat there, looking up at him, tail swishing. As Sora gazed at the cat, it began to lighten until it was a bright gleaming white with one golden eye and one blue eye. Then, slithering through the cat’s white fur, the Claddagh mark and the keyhole appeared on the cat. Lightly, Sora stroked the cat’s head until the creature was purring happily. 

Sora turned back to the ocean and the cat padded off to the castle, disappearing inside.

“Goodbye,” Sora whispered suddenly and his voice sounded as if it was coming from a long way off. “Destiny Islands, goodbye…”

The cat could be heard crying out inside the castle, mewls echoing off the vaulting castle walls.

“Welcome, Kingdom Hearts,” Sora whispered. Then, the darkness that had seeped out of his body shaped into a dark figure beside him on the sand and they both stood there together at the edge of the ruined beach, recreated castle, and the darkness without moving.

**X:X:X**

(1) “One legend says its wielder saved the world while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it.” Remember that? It’s from the first chapter, from Ansem’s report.

Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW!


	38. Battle in the Present for the Future

Oye vey. Try to keep up.

**X:Kingdom:X:Hearts:X**

The ruined remains of Destiny Islands had become the stronghold Kingdom Hearts with the Heartless of the dead citizens of the island becoming the first Heartless. It was likely that if Ansem had never tortured Sora, the Heartless never would have come about. The end of the worlds as we knew them never would have arrived. After Sora had created both the Heartless and the castle, he must have left the ruined world behind, thinking that he had killed Ansem and no one would ever come across this terrible place. 

Then, he had crash-landed in Disney Castle, but King Mickey had said that Sora had arrived with one survivor who hadn’t survived the landing. Who could the survivor be? Sora had destroyed all the people of this world in his fit of fearsome rage. No one save the cat had survived and King Mickey had spoken as if it was a person. Besides, the cat had gone back into the stronghold. Could it have been the mess of darkness that was standing so patiently beside Sora?

But… that thing really wasn’t a person. In fact, Kairi didn’t understand any of what had happened So far, it appeared as if the cat had become the heart of this world, having taken something out of Sora to become the heart… And the darkness that had made Sora a Heartless had taken some sort of shape. What could all this mean? What had happened here?

Suddenly, Kairi wished she had Pocahontas’s power. To know.

Suddenly, a little green bird flit past Kairi’s head in a blur. It came back a moment later, hovering in front of her face eagerly. It took Kairi a moment, but then she recognized the hummingbird as one of Pocahontas’s animal friends. 

“Are the other’s here?” Kairi asked eagerly and held out her finger for the little bird to perch. 

Surprisingly, the bird didn’t perch but raced off towards the castle. When Kairi didn’t follow, it returned and impatiently flew about until she got the hint and followed it to the castle. Up close, the castle was even more ragged-looking than from far away. It looked as if the entire broken structure was about to fall apart around their heads, but the bird pecked at the doors until Kairi heaved them open with her shoulder. Standing just inside the castle was Sora.

His face was pale and he was soaking wet, but he was alive and unhurt. Kairi quickly rushed to his side and took his hand, eagerly speaking his name. Sora looked to her, his blue eyes dark and mournful.

“It was me,” he whispered. “I’m the one that did it all. I destroyed everything…”

“No, Sora, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I released the darkness and then I left.” He pulled his hand from hers and crossed the room to a ruined staircase and looked up. “It’s all my fault… everything that happened…”

“Sora, it wasn’t your fault. That man… Ansem! It’s his fault! He’s the one who did all of this!”

Sora turned his mournful gaze to her. “Riku is coming to kill me.”

“Coming here?” Kairi whispered. “But this is the past.”

Sora shook his head. “Not anymore.”

“Kingdom Hearts was destroyed,” she protested.

“No it wasn’t. I gave my heart to my cat, my only friend, and my heart made her into the keyhole.”

“Sora, this world was destroyed. That’s how the darkness got out.”

He shook his head slowly and crossed beneath the stairs to a giant set of doors and pushed them softly. Even so, they swung easily open and Kairi saw something she had no words to describe. It was a young girl, beautiful and strange, with short dark hair and soft cat ears partnered with a long tail and claws. When Sora opened the doors, she didn’t move. Her eyes, one gold and one blue, remained fixed forward at some farseeing point. The entire center of her body was opened in a shining portal, light and darkness both pouring out of her body.

“Not destroyed,” Sora whispered, “Opened…”

“My god,” Kairi whispered.

“Xion,” Sora breathed. “I’m so sorry, kitty. First… your kittens and then you… I’m so sorry.”

“But… she’s…” Kairi didn’t know what to say and she didn’t get any time to think about it because at that moment, an arm reached through the girl’s middle and her head tipped back in a terrible catlike scream of pain. Following the arm, an entire body came through the girl’s middle and landed before them.

“Well, well, Sora, it’s been a long time hasn’t it?”

“No,” Sora breathed.

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

“We’ve been walking in circles for eternity. I say we just pick a spot and stand there,” Aurora protested. No matter how far they walked in this strange place, it just went on and on with no end or change of scenery in sight. Even though the sky had looked mottled and dark like the sun was setting, a few hours had passed and everything was the same. “What is this place?”

“Suspended time,” Pocahontas said softly.

“How do we get out?” Belle asked.

No one had a chance to answer her because at that moment, a rift opened before them and the Heartless surged out of the wound in the air like black blood. They were shrieking and screaming in countless numbers and more and more poured through the rift even as the others circled the six Princesses.

Jasmine, who had been leading the group, leaped back and unsheathed her two scimitars. Immediately, the light swelled from the blades and she cut down a swath of Heartless. “I think we’ve just found something to occupy our time, ladies,” she said.

Belle folded her hands over her chest and released a blasting beam of light. Snow White threw up her shield, holding the Heartless back at a safe distance. Aurora spread her wings of light and joined Phillip in the sky. Ella set forth the circle around herself and plowed through the Heartless like a bowling ball. Pocahontas drew her weapons and charged to meet the Heartless, knowing their every move and slashing them down before they even had a chance to touch her. 

“Well,” Jasmine muttered to Rajah. “Girl power rules.”

**X:Kingdom:X:Hearts:X**

It was Ansem, looking as mean and bitter as he had when Sora and Kairi had last seen him in the past. He was a big formidable man with a barrel chest and an ugly expression on his handsome face. His skin was dark, his hair pale white, and his eyes the same bright gold as the Heartless’s. He grinned meanly at Sora. “Everything worked out exactly as I had planned,” he said coldly. “You, my boy, are the most perfect pawn.”

Sora shuddered and brandished his Keyblade at Ansem. “Stay away,” he said firmly.

Ansem laughed. “Who’s your little friend?”

Sora stepped in front of Kairi. “Get away from her. Get away from me.”

“Don’t worry, Sora,” Ansem said with a smirk. “I’m not going to hurt you anymore. I’m quite finished with you. I’m only going to kill you and I’ll make it quick.” Then, he pulled a sword from his waist and leaped at them.

“Stop!” Kairi shrieked, but Sora blocked Ansem’s blade and threw the man back. 

“Get out of here, Kairi!” Sora shouted.

Ansem hesitated. Then, he shook his head as if clearing the thoughts of something from his skull and leaped at Sora again. Sora met him with the Keyblade and threw him back, smashing into the wall just beside the girl-portal.

“Kairi, you have to go!” Sora shouted.

“No! I can help you!”

“No, you can’t,” Sora told her. “This is something only I can do.”

**X:Location:X:Unknown:X**

The endless black sea of Heartless poured in through the rift in time and space. By now, they had grown wings and were swooping up to fight Aurora in the sky while the others remained busy with the Princesses on the ground. A few times, Aurora had been knocked out of the air and Ella had rushed to catch her, only barely making it in time to prevent Aurora from shattering her body on the stony ground and discarded Heartless weapons.

“We can’t keep this up!” Jasmine shouted to the others. “There’s too many of them.”

“The portal!” Pocahontas told them. 

“What about it?” Belle asked.

Aurora swooped low, wings beating. “I’ll go into it. Maybe we can cut off the flow at the source.”

“I’ll go with you!” Snow White shouted. 

“No,” Ella said as Snow White’s back. “We need you and your shield or we’ll be overrun.”

“Go Aurora!” Pocahontas shouted.

Aurora nodded, called for Phillip, and swooped through the rift in the purple-black darkness where the Heartless were pouring forth. She tucked in her wings and slipped through. It was sort of like passing through icy water except it clung to her hair and skin and yanked her back for a moment. She had to fight to get through and then she was spilled across a roughhewn wooden floor. A moment later, the owl swooped in after her, screaming.

**X:Kingdom:X:Hearts:X**

Aurora spilled in through the rift, tumbled across the floor, and leaped to her feet a moment later. “What the—?” she began. “Kairi! Sora!” 

Ansem dove for Aurora, grabbed her upper arm, but Aurora flapped her wings strongly and took off from the ground. For a moment, he hung on like an overripe melon and Phillip dove to Aurora’s rescue. The owl tore at Ansem’s face and he dropped off to the ground below.

Sora was waiting for him there and smashed his Keyblade into the side of Ansem’s face. Rich crimson blood poured from Ansem’s nose, the dark skin wavered, lightened, and Riku’s green eyes looked desperately up into Sora’s face. 

“Do something! Stop him!” Riku shouted. “He’s going to kill you!”

Then, Ansem’s features poured back over Riku’s face and Kairi’s friend was gone.

“Riku!” Kairi shouted, but it was too late. 

Sora’s bright blue eyes met Kairi’s. Then, something passed between them and he dove at Ansem. He wrapped both arms around Ansem’s torso and pressed the Keyblade between them. There was a flash of bright light and Sora’s body dropped lifelessly to the floor. For a moment, Ansem clasped both hands to his chest, shrieking in pain, but it really only lasted a moment. Then, he straightened up and his eyes flashed through a slew of colors—golden, green, blue—before settling on Sora’s body.

“It doesn’t matter what you try,” Ansem hissed. “You will never get this body back.” Then, he lifted his sword to plunge it through Sora’s vulnerable body.

Kairi screamed.

Through the rift, Pocahontas leaped in, dropped into a neat roll, crashed into Ansem, and was back to her feet in one swift move. “Don’t let him touch Sora!” she shouted.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	39. Riku, Alone in the Darkness

Oye, there are way too many characters in this story.

**X:Kingdom:X:Hearts:X**

“What? I don’t understand!” Kairi demanded of Pocahontas, red hair flying around her head like colored smoke as she whirled around to stare at her fellow Princess. “What do you mean? What’s going on? Pocahontas! Sora! Riku!”

“Sora’s fighting for Riku’s heart. If Ansem touches him, it’s all over,” the Indian Princess shouted to Kairi. 

“How?” Aurora asked, swooping low. She drew her dagger and prepared to kill Ansem.

“Don’t!” Kairi shouted. “That’s my friend Riku’s body under there!”

Ansem lurched to his feet and punched Aurora in the face. 

Aurora crashed backwards, unable to catch herself with her wings. “Ow,” she moaned. “What are we supposed to do then?” Phillip swooped down, plucked at her hair and clothes as if to draw her to her feet, and finally got her up. “I’m okay.”

“We can’t kill Ansem’s spirit or else we’ll be destroying both Sora and Riku,” Pocahontas explained. “And we can’t let Ansem touch Sora or else Sora will be pulled back into his body and any chance at bringing Riku back will be lost.” 

Jasmine spilled in behind them, Rajah a moment behind her. “We just have to hold him off and protect Sora, right?”

“Right,” Pocahontas nodded.

Snow White, Ella, and Belle fell in through the rift that once was Sora’s cat. 

“Ella, keep the Heartless from coming in after us,” Belle ordered. 

“Got it!” Ella expanded the circle of light around herself and used it to block off the portal Xion’s body created. Kairi had to give her points for not asking what was going on and just going with it.

“Snow White, protect Sora with your shield,” Belle said and folded her hands over her chest. Then, she lowered her hands. “How can we fight him if we can’t hurt him?”

“Everyone get behind Snow White’s shield!” Aurora suggested.

Ansem laughed. “Your powers are for holding back the darkness. They have no affect on me!”

Sure enough, to prove his point, Ansem walked right through Snow White’s shield.

“That doesn’t make sense! He has to be a part of the darkness!” Kairi protested.

Ansem laughed. “I might be, but by taking over your friend’s body, I am immune to you. Plus, now I have Sora scrambling around in my chest. There’s nothing you can do to stop me,” he said coldly. “Now, get out of my way, little girls.”

“No!” Kairi screamed and lunged at Ansem like a feral cat. “You won’t touch him anymore!” The force of her body knocked Ansem backwards and they grappled, rolling over and over, until Ansem pinned Kairi beneath his much larger body. 

Aurora swooped down and smashed into him sidelong, sending him rolling away. “We need to do something!”

“Kairi! You have to call to Riku! Call him back!” Pocahontas shouted.

“Riku!” Kairi screamed.

…

It was dark and cold. There was no gravity, no up and no down, yet somehow he felt as if he was falling. What…? Who was he again? Why was he here? How did he get here? What was going on? Which way was up? Which way was down? What…? The black abyss was endless, stretching on and on, down and down forever, up and up endlessly. 

Then, shattering through the still silence and depth of darkness, screamed a voice. “Riku!”

It was a familiar voice to him and stirred something in his lost heart, something akin to love and friendship. Those words came to the surface, but he couldn’t remember the meaning of such words. Who was shouting? And why? And who was Riku? Could it be him? Who was he again? The abyss returned, deeper and darker in the absence of the voice, but the questions had been roused in his skull.

“Who… am… I…?” he whispered, eyes opening. Well, maybe they were opening, but nothing changed. It was still just endless darkness all around him. 

…

Ansem grasped Kairi by her long blood-red hair, tearing her forward away from the others. Ferally, unthinking of Riku or even Pocahontas’s warning, she lashed out with her fingernails and raked his face. With a shout, he released her to spill across the floor, but the path had been opened. He made his way towards Sora.

“Sora!” Kairi screamed.

…

The voice rocked through the darkness again, a shrieking scream of desperation and terror. “Sora!” Then, in the distance, a fine point of pink-white light. Someone was coming! Why did that name sound so familiar? Where did he know it from? Was he Sora? Or could he be Riku? Who was he? What was going on?

“Riku?” a soft voice called. It was unfamiliar to him, but where did he know the other voice from anyway?

“Who’s… there?” he whispered.

“It’s Sora,” someone murmured through the abyss. The light was coming closer to him, chasing away the dark.

“Who… are you?”

“A friend.”

“Where… is this place?”

“Darkness. Please, you must come back with me,” the soft childish voice whispered. Now, the light was bright, blindingly close.

“It’s bright,” he whispered.

Abruptly, the light winked into darkness, a pale moonlike glow surrounding a beautiful young man with a sweet innocent face. His eyes were the color of the sky at high noon, bright unwavering blue and honest, so heartbreakingly earnest. Who was this young man? What was the moon and the sky? Where had these words come from?

“Who are you?” he whispered.

“It’s Sora.”

“Who’s Sora?”

“A friend. Please, come with me.”

“Where to?”

“Out of the darkness.”

“Why?”

“Ansem has taken over your body. You have to come back. You have to take your body back from him before he hurts us. He’s going to hurt Kairi if you don’t.”

“Kairi?” he whispered.

“Your princess.”

For a moment, he stared at the beautiful youth and then whispered, “Who am I?”

“Riku, Head Guard of Hollow Bastion. Please, come back with me. Come back.” The young man held out his glowing hand and Riku reached out to take the hand, but then he hesitated. “Please,” Sora insisted softly. “There isn’t much time.”

…

Rajah side-slammed into Ansem on Jasmine’s fast command, but the large man hurled the tiger aside. Rajah had to let him go because they couldn’t hurt Riku. Jasmine followed her tiger’s lead, but Ansem tossed her aside too. 

Desperately, Snow White forced her shield forward to hold him back, but he walked right through it, chuckling. 

Belle threw herself onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and yanking him backwards. Ansem pulled her down over his shoulder and threw her into Aurora as the flying Princess swooped down to knock him aside. 

Pocahontas hurled her spear at him, caught his sleeve, and pinned it to the wall, but he pulled away easily and continued towards Sora.

“No!” Kairi screamed, but it was too late.

Ansem’s large hand came down on Sora’s back, fisted in his shirt, and pulled him limply to his feet. Then, his face twisted into a terrible grin and he clasped Sora’s pale face tightly in his fingers. “Time to wake up, Sora,” he hissed. “Play time is over.” Then, he slapped Sora viciously and Sora’s beautiful eyes snapped open. In that moment, Ansem’s eyes cycled through the blue, gold, and green, but the gold won out once again and Ansem grinned. “Over, Sora, all over.”

…

Riku was looking into the beautiful boy’s face and was about to take his hand when Sora’s head snapped up and he whispered, “No!” Then, the boy’s body filled with blinding light. When the light was gone, so was Sora and so was the darkness. In place of the endless black abyss, he saw a ruined wooden room, a beautiful girl with cat features with her middle forming a glowing portal into hell, seven beautiful girls, and the lovely boy who had come for him in the darkness. 

What was going on?

Then, his eyes fell on a stunning redhead with beautiful indigo eyes. Her mouth fell opened and she screamed, “Sora!” and her voice was the familiar one who had screamed his name earlier. 

“Kairi,” he breathed. 

Then, he watched as his own hands hurled the lovely young man, Sora, across with room into Kairi with a smash. It was then that he decided that he had to do something to help them. Somehow, he had to come back! But how?

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	40. The Battle on All Fronts!

AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL: DOUBLE UPDATE!!!!!

**X:Kingdom:X:Hearts:X**

“Sora!” Kairi screamed and dove to try to tear him from Ansem’s grip. Instead, Ansem turned to face her, smirked meanly, and hurled Sora’s small body into hers. They both went crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Sora gasped in pain and shock and then let out a nameless croak of fear as Ansem advanced on them. Kairi put her hand over his eyes and whispered, “Sora, get up!”

Pocahontas was quickly at their sides, helping them up and brushing Sora off. “Are you alright?” 

“What do we do now?” Kairi asked the princess. 

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Sora, is there a chance that Riku will come back?”

Sora tore his eyes away from his terrible father and focused on Kairi’s face. “I don’t know,” he gasped. “He’s lost in the darkness. He’s been there a long time.”

“We have no choice,” Pocahontas said and patted Kairi’s shoulder. “We have to stop him.”

“But Riku—”

“Kairi,” Sora whispered. “He’ll do worse than kill us all.”

She looked into his eyes, so bright with fear and nodded. “Alright. We have to do it, then. There’s no other choice.”

Pocahontas nodded, her raccoon scampering at her feet and the hummingbird flitting around her head. She grabbed her spear from the wall and brandished it, crouching low and strongly with both hands wrapped around the long hilt. Kairi drew her dagger and Sora leveled his Keyblade. Across from the trio, Ella was still holding the Heartless back at the mouth of the portal. Snow White still had her shield thrown up, but since it didn’t do anything to help and she was unarmed, she looked unsure of how to help. Ella and Snow White switched positions since Snow White was unarmed. Aurora and Belle had just heaved themselves to their feet while Phillip swooped low overhead. Jasmine and Rajah readied themselves for battle to the left. In the center of their formation, Ansem grinned at them.

“How sad for me. The forces for my final battle are my worthless son and seven little girls and their pets,” Ansem hissed.

“Let’s go,” Pocahontas said firmly.

They leaped into action.

The true warriors, Pocahontas and Jasmine led the pack with Sora just behind them. Rajah let out a fierce roar and Meeko shrieked. Kairi strung her bow, but hesitated. This was Riku’s body, her closest friend… she couldn’t let her arrow fly. Overhead, Aurora and Phillip dropped in from the sky. Ella and Belle came in at the back. 

For one small moment, Snow White could have sworn that they were going to win with this one combined blow. 

But Ansem’s long sword bit into Jasmine’s bared stomach and hurled her backwards. The scimitars flew from her hands, clattering on the roughhewn wooden floor, and Rajah quickly turned from the battle to aid his mistress as her bleeding body skidded across the floor. The tiger crouched over her, growling, and Jasmine gripped handfuls of the orange and black fur, trying to heave herself up, but it was hopeless. She was hurt bad, bleeding worse.

He caught Sora in the face with his fist, hurling his son backwards. Sora landed hard, spitting blood.

Pocahontas raised her spear, screaming in her native tongue, but Ansem dodged her. Again, he swung his long weapon and slashed Pocahontas across her exposed back. She crashed to the floor at his feet, the raccoon taking up position to guard her damaged back. Pocahontas was down, but not out—the Indian princess stabbed her dagger into Ansem’s calf. With a howl of pain, he lifted his sword high and prepared to plunge it deep into her exposed back. Meeko bared his teeth, but he wouldn’t be able to stop the attack.  
Sora leaped at him again, slashing with his Keyblade, but Ansem grabbed his throat and tossed him like a paper doll.

Kairi’s trembling fingers let her arrow fly finally, but Ansem plucked it out of the air and grinned at her with all his white teeth. With the arrow, he stabbed into Aurora’s body as she swooped down at him from above, shrieking like a bird of prey. Her wings went around herself like a protective cocoon, even trapping Phillip who was coming quickly to her aid, and they both slammed into the wall before dropping to the floor like stones. 

The third time Sora attacked, Ansem stopped playing around. His sword bit into Sora’s face, slashing across his left eye and down across his chest.

Ansem caught Ella through the shoulder with his sword, skewered through her, and the sword kept going into Belle’s shoulder just behind her. Together, they went down in a heap, pressing weakly at the wounds. Belle’s face was as fierce as any beast, her teeth bared, but Ella looked sickened by the sight of her own blood. Ansem wordlessly pulled the sword from their bodies and wiped the bloodied blade on them without a care.

Sora’s face was nothing but blood as he tried to get to his feet.

Snow White threw up her shield, trying to help, trying to stop him from finishing everyone off, but Ansem walked right through it as he had before. Kairi was kneeling at Sora’s side, but now she rose to her feet and let another arrow fly. This one stuck solidly into Ansem’s back as he had approached Snow White. Surely he wanted to pull down her shield so the Heartless could pour in. Growling, he turned away from Snow White to face Kairi. 

“You stupid girl!” he shouted.

She freed another arrow, but it went wide, sticking in the wall just beside the cat-girl.

Ansem charged and slammed into Kairi, throwing her down on her back. Her eyes stared up at him, wide and desperate. “Stop, Riku…”

Sora croaked, “Don’t hurt her,” and tried to get up.

Ansem turned to his son and pressed his sword to Sora’s throat. “Stay down, boy.” Then, he pulled a small dagger from his waist and lifted it high over Kairi’s head, prepared to slaughter her like a pig on the butcher’s block. “Say goodbye to your pretty friend!”

“No!” Sora screamed. 

Another voice joined his and Ansem’s arm froze in the air.

“W-what?” Ansem choked out.

“No! You won’t use me for this!” Riku’s voice rang from Ansem’s mouth. Then, Ansem’s ugly features melted away and Riku’s pale features took over. “Get out of me! Get back!”

“Riku,” Kairi breathed. Her eyes filled with tears. “You’re back…”

Riku forced a pale smile. “You’re okay, Kairi. I’m glad.”

Then, a scream of anguish wracked him and he doubled over. For a moment, his eyes fought, beating backwards between gold and green, but the green finally took over. Riku’s head threw back and he screamed out again. A ball of hideous darkness burst forth from his chest, pulsing like a heart.

Sora staggered to his feet, swung the Keyblade through it, and the ball evaporated with a long keening wail. Outside, the Heartless gave on terrible dying scream. The girl-cat-portal Xion’s mouth fell open and she screamed in anguish, her cries mingled with both the scream of a cat and with Sora’s sweet voice.

Then, Sora collapsed.

A moment later, Riku’s body smashed into the ground, unconscious.

Kairi left him lying on his face, mindful of the arrow she had put in his back, but checked his pulse. Then, she circled quickly to the others, aided by Snow White.

“So, did we win?” Snow White whispered.

“It doesn’t feel that way,” Kairi whispered as she observed the ruin around her. 

The girl on the wall slowly shifted and her body once again became that of a pale white cat. She dropped from the wall onto all fours, shaking her head as if to clear something. Her bright blue and gold eyes scanned the room until she found Sora. Then, she trotted over to Sora’s fallen body, sat beside him, and mewled softly. When Sora didn’t respond, she nosed her way beneath his hand so he would pet her and then just melted into him. 

The moment she did, a loud voice raced through Kairi’s head. “You have done well,” the Keyblade roared.

Then, a hot bright gust of air swept through the room and the world began to grind and roar around them. Was this world… locking? Or… falling apart? Then, the bright light swept them all away on the tide, screaming. Then, they were dumped rudely into Disney Castle’s courtyard.

**X:X:X**

Man, this climax was such a bitch to write. Way to many characters… Note to self: next time we keep the character count under ten…

Questions, comments, concerns?


	41. Aftershock at Disney Castle

Short chapter to resolve all the junk. 

Man, that climax was a bitch to write with the nine million characters I had! I’m so very glad that it’s finally over. (Though I kind of wasn’t happy with it… I dunno why…)

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

Their sudden return, only minutes after their sudden departure, shocked everyone. For two hours afterwards, there was a rush of helter-skelter activity as the injured Princesses of Heart, Riku, Sora were bottled off to the infirmary to have their wounds tended. Kairi spent several minutes standing with the king and queen, trying to explain to them what had happened, but it sounded even stranger out loud. With nothing left to do, they just waited to see what would happen.

…

Within a few days, everyone was out of the woods and life as they knew it was almost back to normal. At this time, King Mickey, Queen Minnie, the Princesses of Heart sans Kairi, and without Sora or Riku were gathered in the dining room, discussing the events that had transpired. (The trio was outside in the garden, heads together, whispering.)

“I don’t get it!” Jasmine snapped. “Why are the Heartless still out there?”

Pocahontas’s dark eyes followed Jasmine’s path as she paced the room. “The Heartless won’t ever be completely gone. There will always be more darkness in the world because there will always be more people,” she said plainly.

“But, but, but, we beat back the darkness? What was the point of all that if we didn’t defeat the dark—ow!” Jasmine sat down sharply, pressing a hand over her wound. “I’m okay, but what about the Heartless?”

“Their numbers have decreased drastically,” Mickey said. 

“Very drastically,” Belle added. “I think that’s all we can really hope for.”

“I thought that once we destroyed the darkness, everything would be over,” Aurora said with a sad sigh. “Will it ever be over?”

“I don’t think so,” Minnie murmured. 

Pocahontas nodded. “There will always be darkness. The destruction of Sora’s innocent heart is what released it, gave it form and strength. He tried to close it off in his ruined home world, but Ansem opened it and unleashed that evil on the rest of the worlds.”

“But… how long will this last?” Ella asked. “Forever?”

Belle rolled her shoulders. “Maybe with Sora’s death…”

Minnie gasped. “No!”

“Don’t worry,” Pocahontas broke in. “I think even if Sora dies, the darkness will still be. Darkness just is. There’s no getting rid of it completely. The most we could hope for is for the darkness to return into people’s hearts where it originally came from.”

“And how do we do that?” Snow White asked. 

“I don’t think there is a way,” Pocahontas said.

“Then, is it time for us all to go home?” Aurora asked.

Mickey nodded. “I think that would be the next course of action. Everything and everyone is out of direct danger. Maybe, with time, we could destroy the Heartless completely, but there’s nothing left for us to do now.” The king rose from the table. “Thank you for your help, everyone.”

Minnie smiled and nodded. 

After that, they continued to sit at the table, talking, for a long time. Normalcy… No one had realized just how much they had missed it in the past year. It was wonderful to have it back and after they finished talking, King Mickey had an entire meal of nothing but dessert laid out. It was the best reward possible.

…

While Sora waited in the wings, Kairi threw her arms around Riku’s neck and hugged him tightly just outside the castle. Things had been to hectic within the last week that Kairi had only alternated her time between taking care of the others and dropping off into exhausted sleep. But now, she had some time.

“Riku,” she sobbed. “I’m so glad you’re alive…”

Her oldest friend hugged her in return. “I’m sorry.”

For a while, no words passed between the friends. They didn’t need to speak. They had been together, been friends, been comrades, been protecting each other’s backs, for too long—words were unnecessary. The silence spoke volumes for them. 

Then Riku turned and opened his arm to Sora. “I’m sorry to you too.”

Sora’s blue eyes widened. 

“I was so ready to think bad of you because I knew that… Kairi liked you. And so, I’m sorry,” Riku offered with a small grin. “Come here.”

Sora joined their hug, pressing under Riku’s arm like a small child and hugging onto Kairi tightly. Riku breathed in sharply when he felt Sora’s body against his own. God, the kid was so thin and fragile-feeling, like a doll or a newborn kitten. How could he ever have thought bad of such a sweet kid? He had been stupid and it had almost cost him everything. If it hadn’t been for Sora, he would have lost everything that had ever mattered to him.

…

When Sora, Kairi, and Riku joined them at the dessert-laden table a while later, Pocahontas said, “There’s just one thing I don’t understand.” 

“What’s that?”

“The transmission from Kingdom Hearts.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it was transmitted all over moments before the world seemed to vanish, but we were just there so… what had happened?”

“Ansem returned to it,” Sora said and picked at the ice cream on his plate. “He blocked it from the worlds and killed the few people that had landed on it after I… unleashed the darkness.”

Kairi laid her hand on his small shoulder. “You sealed it back up. You did what you could.”

He put his hand over hers. “Yeah…”

“But the transmission?” Pocahontas asked. “Why would he release it?”

Sora pressed his hand over his chest, feeling his heartbeat. “He didn’t.”

“Then who did?”

“Xion, my cat and my heart. Somehow, she got enough power out of the pieces of my heart that I left with her for safekeeping to take human form. She released the transmission to let everyone know what Ansem was doing.”

“But?” Kairi supplied.

“Ansem found her and turned her into the portal so that he could release the Heartless on the worlds. Since she had my heart and I am connected to all the worlds through their hearts… it was easy for him to take over that way. I gave him all the tools he needed to destroy the worlds.”

“Unknowingly,” Kairi whispered and embraced him gently. “It’s not your fault.”

“But why couldn’t we get to Kingdom Hearts through you if you’re so intimately connected to that world?”

“Because… I never wished to return there…”

“With good reason,” Kairi broke in.

Sora squeezed her hand and she didn’t tell them exactly why, but everyone could sense it. It was the horrible things that had managed to cultivate darkness in the purest heart of all. If it had managed to corrupt the Keybearer, they didn’t want to know. It would be that awful. 

…

“What I want to know,” Kairi said to King Mickey in private, “is who that survivor that landed with Sora here was?”

Mickey sighed heavily. “I really don’t know who it was. It was a man, but I only saw him for a moment. Then he was just gone.”

“A man?” Riku repeated and glanced at Kairi. “Could it have been Ansem?”

“It’s possible,” she said. “I guess we’ll never really know for sure.”

…

Within a week, everyone returned to their home worlds. 

Goodbyes were long and tearful, but it wasn’t as if they would never see each other again. It was decided that Sora would make rounds to the worlds and lock their keyholes just in case the Heartless ever got the upper hand again, but the chances of that were slim to none. Even now, on the other side of Disney Castle’s raging river, there were maybe ten Heartless and the number wasn’t growing even as days passed.

Mickey heard from Jack Skellington. Halloween Town’s leader explained to the king that they had been overrun and were barely holding back the tides of darkness when suddenly, the Heartless were yanked back into a rift of darkness, screaming, and they were able to take back the town.

The darkness had been pushed back and, though it would never be completely vanquished, that was enough. For the moment, they had succeeded.

**X:X:X**

Phew, I’m glad all was resolved. I think… Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW! 

I got NO reviews for the last chapter. NONE! Whatsoever…


	42. Sleep with Kairi, Sora?

This will all be over by chapter forty-five. So there!

Short chapter.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

Kairi was lying in her borrowed bed, just enjoying the feeling of having nothing more to worry about and the press of the cool sheets and soft mattress. The Darkness had been pushed back, Sora had his heart back in his own chest, Riku was back, the Princesses of Heart were all back home, and everything was mostly as it should be. Kairi’s only regret was that they hadn’t been able to restore any of the worlds that had been eaten by the Heartless. 

Hollow Bastion was no more and there was nothing she could do to ever bring her home back. 

King Mickey had already told her that she and Riku were welcome to stay here or to take a gummi-ship to any other world they wished. Riku and Sora, in light of everything that had happened, were now almost good friends aside from some good-natured male competition. Riku was all for staying at Disney Castle, but he would follow Kairi to the ends of the earth. She still hadn’t decided where she wanted to go to live the rest of her life. 

She just wanted to sleep right now—rest was all she wanted.

Then, there was a light knock on the door. 

“Riku?”

“No… it’s Sora. Can I come in?”

Groaning, Kairi sat up, scraped her hair back from her face and hugged the blankets around her shoulders. “Of course, Sora. Come on in.”

He entered slowly, looking nervous and pale in his pale grey cotton pajamas. There was dark bruise-like circles beneath his beautiful cerulean sky-blue eyes and his skin was as pale as paper, stretched over the thin fragile bones of his face. What a beautiful innocent childlike youth… His body was so thin, Kairi thought to herself. God, she could wrap her arms around him twice.

“Sora, why aren’t you sleeping?” Kairi asked as he came to sit on the bed beside her. “Aren’t you tired?”

He lowered his eyes. “I’m always tired…”

“You could sleep, Sora.”

“No, I can’t.”

Kairi’s mind returned to the horrible basement where Sora had been tormented with sleeplessness. The prongs of that horrible metal fork pressing into his thin pale throat, his darkened eyes, his begging pleading voice… “Oh, Sora,” she whispered and gently touched his shoulder.

His eyes met hers. “How can you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Touch me? You know what… what he did to me…”

Gently, Kairi hugged him against her body. “Sora, none of that was your fault. That man… he was a bastard and he’s gone now. No one is going to hurt you anymore.”

Sora’s arms tightened around her. “I know that, but I just… I can’t sleep… Whenever I close my eyes, I see his face…”

Kairi stroked his back soothingly. “Oh, Sora. Can’t you try?”

He shook his head. “No. I know King Mickey told you about how I don’t sleep at night, how I just creep in the castle corridors like a ghost.”

Kairi pushed him back and looked into his face. “Sora, why don’t you stay in here with me?”

“Why?”

“Maybe you can sleep if someone’s with you.”

Sora’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark. “You really think so?”

“It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” Kairi asked with a small smile. “So, Sora?”

He nodded lightly, smiling faintly. “Thank you, Kairi.” Then, hesitantly, he feathered his lips on her cheek.

For a moment, Kairi just stared at him, her eyes wide. “Sora…” she breathed.

He smiled lightly and pushed her back to lie on the bed. He snuggled against her side, his head resting on her breasts, listening to her heartbeat. He embraced her tightly, breathing deeply. The scent of her skin was sweet and her body was so warm and soft. Everything was so incredibly different… He had never suffered here. In fact, this place loved him.

“Sora?”

“Hmm?”

“You have to talk to Mickey and Minnie.”

He sat up, but Kairi hugged him down again. “Why?” Sora asked.

“Because they love you.”

“But…”

“Please, for me?”

He nodded into her shoulder.

“Thank you, Sora.”

Kairi gathered up the blankets and pulled them up over Sora’s cool body. 

“Just try to sleep,” she whispered. “I’m here with you.”

“Thank you.”

…

A scream in the night woke Kairi from a sound sleep. Beside her, Sora was curled up tightly on himself, hands dug through his thick chocolate tresses. He was gasping for breath, his blue eyes wide and filled with tears. Then, he lurched upright and screamed again.

Kairi threw her arms around him, cradling him against her breasts like a small child. She shushed him, soothing his ragged nerves, until he was just a shivering bundle in her arms. Then, she was finally able to ask him what was wrong. “What is it Sora?”

“I dreamed it…”

“About what he did to you?”

“Y-yes.”

“It’s okay. He’s dead now.”

“What about Xion, my kitty?”

“Her heart is with you. Your heart is with you, Sora.”

His eyes slid closed and he lay against her, breathing deeply. Kairi stroked his face, his hair, the bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes. Sora… how could he have created the darkness and released it upon the world? He was such a sweet kid and so beautiful and so hurt. She whispered into his hair and he smiled faintly in his sleep.

**X:X:X**

Questions, comments, concerns?

If people don’t start reviewing, I’m going to get all excited (in a bad way). Don’t make me get all warlike and start threatening you.


	43. Mending Hearts, Sora?

Another insanely short chapter. We’ve got some resolution going on.

And because everyone keeps asking me, Sora is a teenager. He just acts a little childish because his personality and heart are just coming back. Think of it as speedy aging. His personality has to age back up to a teenager because he lost his heart as a child. Any other questions?

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

“What should I say?” Sora whispered.

“Anything you want,” Kairi said with a smile and patted his back. “Go on.”

But Sora hesitated and Riku, who was much less patient than Kairi, put his foot up Sora’s ass and gave him a shove. Kairi glared at her friend, but Riku gave her doe-eyed palms-up look and she shook her head with a sigh. Together, they peered around the corner of the castle as Sora tripped his way to where Minnie and Mickey were waiting. (That had been Riku’s job, to fetch the king and queen, while Kairi brought Sora.) It was great to be working as a team again. Kairi hadn’t realized how much she had missed Riku.

…

Sora clenched his hands into a fist. “King Mick—I mean, Dad…”

Mickey smiled. “Yeah Sora?”

“And M-Mom…”

Minnie’s eyes filled with tears though she smiled. “Yes baby?”

“Could we… I mean, maybe, could we talk?” he whispered.

Minnie burst into tears and hugged Sora tightly. It didn’t take long for Mickey to join in on the family group hug. When Sora sobbed into his mother’s throat, it was everything King Mickey could have asked for. When he glanced up, he saw and Kairi and Riku’s heads poking around the castle and mouthed, “Thank you” to them. 

And he truly was grateful to them. 

They had done so much.

So, so much.

…

Kairi and Riku walked the castle gardens together.

“Hey Riku?”

“What?”

“What was it like?”

“What?”

“Being possessed by Ansem?”

“I wasn’t possessed. He threw me in the darkness in my own heart.”

“Was it like a prison?”

“Yeah. It was awful.”

They were quiet a moment, enjoying the flowers. 

“Riku, what is the darkness in your heart?”

He hesitated. “It’s you.”

“What?”

“It’s you, Kairi.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s how Maleficent got to me. She knew I would do anything for you.”

Kairi shuddered.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was thinking that maybe there would be a way to fight the darkness in our hearts, but… If our friendship is what brought this on…” she sobbed. “Riku, is there hope for humanity?”

Riku hugged her. “Of course there is.”

“How can we be sure. I mean… this is so screwed up.”

“That darkness is what makes us human, Kairi. He have emotions. We hate and,” he cupped her face, “we love.”

“Riku, I don’t…” 

“I know, but I do,” he whispered and gently kissed her forehead. “I just wanted you to know that before you ran off with Sora.”

Kairi’s face flamed. “What?!”

“Don’t play coy. I see you mooning at him when you think no one’s looking.”

“Riku!”

“And I saw him come out of your room in the wee hours of the morning.”

“Riku! You—”

“Tell me, Kairi, should we be expecting the pitter-patter of little feet?”

“You’re dead!” Kairi shrieked. 

Riku caught one glimpse at the look on her face and took off running and Kairi gave fearsome chase. Riku was laughing, even at Kairi caught up and nearly throttled him. As they raced by King Mickey, Queen Minnie, and Sora, they disrupted the family hug, but Mickey only threw his head back and laughed out loud. Sora looked confused a moment, but Kairi saw his lips lift in a smile. It was lovely to see him smile after everything he had been through. If Sora could smile despite the darkness in his own heart, than Kairi could smile too. Riku, on the other hand, would be smiling through a full-body-cast when Kairi caught him, but she supposed he could still smile.

**X:X:X**

I’m kind of in a hurry to get all these last chapters posted so I can make We’re Circus People, my new one. SO DOUBLE UPDATE AGAIN! 

Questions, comments, concerns?

Why is it everyone reviews so well when I bitch? Why can’t you all do that without me bitching? It would make me so very incredibly happy to get that kind of turnout on every chapter.


	44. Vacation in Halloween Town

I didn’t plan on having ANY of Halloween Town in this story except in passing mentioning, but… it’s my favorite world and one of my favorite movies… I just couldn’t resist it! I have bad willpower… So sue me… (And, Paradise Avenger’s words of wisdom, if you have bad willpower like me, make sure all your vices re good for you. That way, when you give in, it doesn’t matter anyway. Clever, yes?)

**X:Halloween:X:Town:X**

It was King Mickey’s idea for the Sora, Kairi, and Riku to take a break from saving the worlds, fighting Heartless, fighting each other, and mending Sora’s healing heart by going on a small vacation to the universe’s safest world—Halloween Town—and Jack Skellington said he’d be more than happy to put them up for a week.

They arrived at Halloween Town dead on at midnight.

Jack and his second-in-command Sally were waiting patiently for them. They were quite a strange-looking couple of people. Jack was as long and thin and bony as a bundle of twigs with a bony white face and deep black eyes with virtually now white to them and a yawning mouth full of small white teeth. Sally must have been half his size and she was as plump-limbed and lovely as any doll, only her limbs and face were marred with countless scars as if her entire body had broken apart and had to be stitched back together. Even so, she had beautiful red hair and lovely eyes and smiled when they stepped off their ship.

“Hello!” Jack said and he had a big happy voice that belonged on someone much less fierce and strange-looking.

“Welcome,” Sally said softly and her voice was just perfect for her body. 

“Yes, welcome to Halloween Town,” Jack continued and swept out his long bony arm to encompass the courtyard behind him. 

At the center of the Guillotine Square was a giant fountain weeping green water and steaming in the late darkness. Milling around the courtyard were all sorts of monsters from fairytales and songs and, shockingly, mingling with those known monsters were countless Heartless. (1) Sora immediately brandished his Keyblade, Riku drew his own sword, and Kairi strung her bow. (Kairi was still unable to access her heart-power save in absolute desperation.)

Jack laughed. “No, no! It’s alright,” he said. “We have found a way to subdue the Heartless.”

Sally nodded. “Well, for the most part.”

“How?” Riku asked eagerly.

“We’ve given them a sort of artificial heart. They’re nothing like humans, but they aren’t particularly bloodthirsty monsters anymore.”

“Hey!” A werewolf shouted across the square.

“No offence, Henry,” Sally supplied.

The werewolf meandered away, growling.

“Anyway,” Jack continued and slung his long arms around their shoulders. “You’ll have to tell me all about what happened when you battled the Heart of Darkness. Halloween Town was off the grid, our radios destroyed by attacking Heartless at that point, but then they were just pushed back by this light and everything was fine.”

“We’d be happy to,” Kairi said.

“But first, we need to get you into some better clothes,” Jack said.

“What? Why?”

“You… kind of stick out like sore thumbs.” 

Sally sighed and shook her head. “Tactful as always.”

Jack smiled sheepishly. “Sally, my dear, if you’d be so kind.”

“This way,” she said with a wave of her small pieced-together hand.

Kairi, Sora, and Riku all looked at each other, but followed. A half an hour later, they were outfitted like proper monsters.

“I don’t know. I feel a little silly,” Kairi said nervously. She plucked at the tattered gauzy black wings Sally had outfitted over her shoulders, the long red and black tattered skirt, red bodice with black linen sleeves, and even a gothic choker made up of several different crosses. “What am I? Does anyone even know?”

Sally chuckled.

“You look better than me,” Riku snorted and stepped on a bandage, nearly toppling himself over. “Not only do I look ridiculous, but I can’t even walk without hurting myself.” He was snarled up in a lot of dirty white bandages like a mummy.

Sora nervously adjusted a grinning pumpkin mask on the side of his head. “What about me?”

The three of them eyed him.

Sora was dressed as some kind of vampire, his pale skin and glow-in-the-dark blue eyes gleaming within the folds of the black and grey costume and fangs crawling down over his lower lip. At his side, the blood-stained Keyblade actually fit right in.

“Wow,” Kairi said. 

“You actually pull that off,” Riku said. “Now come on. Let’s have a look around.”

Sally smiled and waved them off. “What sweet kids.”

…

The orange Halloween Town moon was bright, hanging in the sky like a grinning face. Sometimes, it troubled Sora to know that he was looking at a moon different from the one that he saw in the sky over Disney Castle. The only thing that was the same between the world was him and his heart—they were all connected. Sighing heavily, he drew his legs against his chest and shivered as the chill of the graveyard earth soaked into his body. 

“Need some company?” Kairi sat down beside him and slipped part of her heavy cloak around his shoulders.

He smiled faintly and leaned gratefully into the warmth. “That’d be nice. Thank you.”

“A penny for your thoughts?”

He shook his head. “I was just looking at the moon.”

“The Americans think they see the face of a man in the moon,” she said. “Did you know that?”

He laughed softly. “I didn’t. The Japanese see a rabbit beating the ingredients for a rice cake in the moon.”

Kairi smiled. “I guess everyone sees something different in the moon.”

Together, they gazed up at the orange moon hanging in the sky.

“I think… this one looks a little like Jack Skellington’s face, you know?” Kairi said suddenly.

Sora angled his head. “I could see that.”

They sat in silence a while longer, soaking up the heat of Kairi’s cloak as the night’s chill seeped in. The tombstones cast deep shadows and a few ghosts lifted out to haunt the night. Things like that weren’t strange in Halloween Town and Kairi was becoming used to the creepy sight of them. Sora… not so much. He pressed closer to her as one such spirit of the dead swooped past him.

“Are you afraid?” Kairi asked him.

“A little,” he confessed.

“Why?”

“The dead… I’m afraid that they might hate me.”

“Why?”

“Because I destroyed Destiny Islands when the darkness took me. I killed everyone. Don’t you think that they might be unhappy with me?”

Kairi rubbed his arm. “It’s possible, Sora, but the dead are dead.”

He leaned into her. “I know. I just… I think about what I did sometimes… I should have fought him.”

“You shouldn’t. It wasn’t your fault. Ansem tortured you. All he wanted was to cultivate darkness in your heart and he did that any way he could. Eventually, no matter what you had done to resist him, I’m sure he would have succeeded. That was a man prepared to do anything to get what he wanted.”

Sora shuddered. “When I think about it…”

“Don’t,” she whispered.

“But, I can’t.”

“Think about anything else.”

“I don’t have anything good to think about, Kairi. I’ve done nothing but hurt people my whole life.”

“What about when you locked the worlds? You saved them.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I hurt far too many people. Even my adoptive parents, King Mickey and Queen Minnie. I hurt her so much when I was a Heartless, not speaking or responding and then responding to you. God, I hurt her so badly.”

“Sora…” Kairi leaned over and gently pecked his cheek. “It’s alright. They’ll forgive you.”

Sora pressed his fingers to his cheek, his eyes bright and wide. “But I frightened even you being the way I was.”

“That doesn’t matter. I forgive you.”

“You think everyone will forgive me? What about Riku?”

“He already has, remember?” Kairi murmured.

Sora’s voice was like a sigh. “Yeah.”

“Sora?”

He turned to face her, his eyes soaking up the moonlight and glowing in the dark, and it was then that Kairi gently kissed him for the first time. Her lips were soft on his and she could taste the untouched innocence of his soul through his mouth. Gently, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close against her body. Sora’s arms went timidly around her and squeezed her desperately close without deepening the kiss. Kairi let him go at his own pace, kissing her softly and lightly for what felt like eternity. Then, he softly pulled away and stared into her eyes. This time, when his lips curved in a faint smile, it even reached his beautiful blue eyes.

…

The vacation in Halloween town proved to be exactly what they needed. They relaxed in the haunted city, visited some monsters, took a tour of the graveyard from actual ghosts, swam in the pool of blood, spent some time helping Jack deal with Oogie Boogie, and even had a quick flight on witches’ brooms. 

(Flying proved to be a bad thing for both Sora and Riku. After Sora’s first fall, he declined trying again, but since Kairi got it so easily, Riku insisted on continuing to try. After sixteen falls and finally smashing his face, Riku gave up, but not without first retorting that Kairi could fly so well because she was a real witch. She had let out a great fake cackle, swooped down after him, plowed him over one final time, and then helped Sora sit astride the broom with her so they could taunt Riku from above.)

Even so, after a week of fantastic yet creepy fun, they were ready to return to Disney Castle. After all, it was home to all three of them.

**X:X:X**

(1) Who else arrived in Halloween Town, saw all the Heartless, freaked out, and tried to smash them? I know I did. And then when I ran across the ones I was actually supposed to fight, I just stood there thinking, “Well, they’re not going to attack me…”

Questions, comments, concerns?


	45. Epilogue: Hearts Together

Bragh… this chapter was slow in coming. It kept trying to fight with me, but I WON!

Classic author’s note at the end. 

Blah, blah, blah.

**X:Disney:X:Castle:X**

The trio returned home from their vacation in Halloween Town a little after midnight. Yawning, Riku bid Kairi and Sora goodnight and headed off to his room, not before giving Kairi a slow wink and a cheesy grin. Kairi wanted to chase him down the hall, slug him, and then go to bed, but Sora’s soft hand lightly taking her own stopped any thoughts of violence. She turned and smiled at him gingerly, squeezing his long fingers softly.

“Sora?”

“Can I try sleep with you again tonight?” he whispered, eyes shadowed by the Halloween mask he wore on the side of his head.

She stroked the chocolate tresses back from his cheeks. “Scared? Those monsters were pretty freaky.”

He shook his head, eyes bright and honest. “No. I just… I want to be with you.”

Kairi’s heart fluttered and she smiled. “You bet.”

Sora sat down on the bed and watched her with his bright eyes until she came to sit beside him. She shrugged out of her gauzy tattered wings and tossed them in the bottom of the closet before joining him. He lightly wrapped his fingers around her wrist, turned her palm over, and traced the lines on her hand with his fingertips. His warm touch was soothing and she was soon so relaxed that she thought her body would turn into a puddle of girly-goo.

“Kairi?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you do it again?”

“Do what again?”

“Kiss me?” he whispered.

Kairi cupped his face. “Why?”

His cheeks flushed. “Because… I liked it…”

She cupped his face gently, smiled softly at him, and feathered her lips at the corner of his mouth. She wanted Sora to initiate the real kiss and after a moment’s hesitation, he did. He wrapped his arms around her small body, holding her close and pressing his body flush against hers as if he wanted them to become one again, as they had when she held his heart in her chest. There was a strange sort of desperation in his kiss, like if he didn’t hold on tight enough he thought he might lose her.

“Sora,” she whispered and pushed him back on the bed, straddling his hips and pinning him down with her hands on his chest. “How far to you want to go?”

“What do you mean?” he whispered into her mouth.

She kissed the side of his throat, suckling lightly, and rubbed her knee lightly between his thighs. Sora gasped, his arms tightening around her, and turned his head to catch her mouth in a deep kiss. Kairi took that as his answer and let her hands wander his lovely body. 

It was the first time for both of them, but Ansem had never sexually abused Sora so she didn’t have to be careful.

Kairi slipped her hands beneath the dark shirt Sally had given him and caressed the contours of his chest, relishing every little shiver that passed through his body at her touch. Then, something sharp pricked her mouth and she pulled back, sharply, pressing her fingers to her lips.

“Blood,” she whispered.

Sora’s eyes widened. “Ah! The fangs from this costume!”

Kairi put her fingers to his mouth and encouraged him to open up. Sure enough, one of the sharp eyeteeth was spotted with blood. “We’ll have to be careful.”

“I’ll just take them out,” Sora told her and tried to sit up, but Kairi pushed him down, smiling. 

“We’ll just be careful,” she repeated. “I want to do it like this.”

She trailed kisses all down his chest to his navel and then dipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his pants. Sora lifted his hips and let her pull them down until he was in his boxers. Cautiously, she worked him through the slit, not wanting to hurt him, and blew a stream of cold air on his member. Sora gasped, his hands fisting in the sheets.

“Kairi,” he gasped.

She licked him experimentally and decided he liked it when a moan of pleasure escaped him. She fit her whole mouth around the sensitive head of him, licking and sucking in accordance with the sounds he made. His fingers tangled in her hair, guiding her pace, but Kairi ignored his hands and focused on taking more and more of him into her mouth. His cock bumped the back of her throat and she gagged a little, but persisted until she had swallowed every inch of him. Then, experimentally, she moaned, sending the vibration into his body through his most sensitive organ.

Sora yelped out her name, his hips rising into her mouth. Heat swelled in the back of her throat, running down into her stomach, and she pulled back swiftly, shocked. Then, she grinned—she had done it. She had made Sora come.

“Was that good?” she asked him.

He nodded breathlessly. 

Lightly, she kissed him, mindful of where her mouth had been, but Sora didn’t seem to care. He held her close and forced his way into her mouth, tasting himself and her in combination. She could feel him between her legs, pressing against her wet panties, and she reached down between their bodies. 

Not without some difficulty, she pushed her panties aside and guided him inside her. He felt so huge inside her virgin tightness, stretching her to the point of pain but also to the strangest point of pleasure. Every inch of her empty space was filled with him and she gasped out, rocking her hips to feel him moving inside her.

“Does it hurt?” he whispered.

“Just a little,” she admitted.

Sora hugged her and kissed her tenderly, distracting her from the small pain. Then, suddenly, he thrust his hips and the head of his cock impaled against the mouth of her womb. It felt so good. She gasped out his name, tightening her arms around his neck tightly and breathing hard into his ear. She rested her weight on her knees, giving Sora room to work beneath her, and work he did. 

He thrust deeply and fast, wrapping her body up in the throes of pleasure she had only seen in movies until the only word she knew was his name. When her orgasm rocked her, she screamed out his name at the top of her lungs until he smothered her cries with his kiss. Then, she collapsed on his chest, feeling the throb of his heart beneath the cage of his ribs and breathing hard.

“Sora,” she whispered. “I think I love you.”

“I’ve always known that,” he whispered. “I feel your heart inside me still and mine in yours.”

Kairi smiled and let her eyes slide closed in bliss as he softened inside her.

It had been worth it, she decided. It had all been worth it. She had carried the weight of his heart, restored it to him, and done her best to save the worlds. So she had lost Hollow Bastion to the darkness, but she had gained so much more. It was then that Kairi decided that there wasn’t much that she really missed about the worlds as they were. After all, she had all the power she needed to change the future and even to change a little bit of the past. She was a force to be reckoned with and she had a feeling their child would be too.

**X:X:X**

Kind of a different lemon for me. Since Kairi had been taking charge of the plot throughout, I figured why change it at the end? 

Well, Whimsical Acumen, what’d you think? I didn’t hear hardly anything out of you the entire time I was writing this…

And, drum roll please, we are finished! Here we go.

Very important classic author's note:

First, **drop a review** and let me know what you think! Are the characters way out of character? Does everybody hate, um, Ansem? Maybe everyone hates Riku instead for being such a flake and going to the darkness? Think I torture Sora way too much (even though I kept rape COMPLETELY out of my plot this time. Aren’t you all proud of me?)? Are permanently disgusted and can no longer even play Kingdom Hearts thanks to me? Loved it? Hated it? Are scarred for life because of what happened to Sora? Think there was way too much going on in this story? Way to many characters? (Flames will be used to roast marshmallows and weenies!) Think I need to do more editing before I post chapters? Post to slow? Chapters are too short? Too long? Yada, yada, yada…

Second, I own nothing except my original characters: like um… actually, I don’t think I had any in here. I supposed I own the idea for making Pocahontas a Princess of Heart. But I do own my plot! So there, now I can't be sued!

Third, there will be **no sequel** … at all, so don't ask! Go play Kingdom Hearts Two or Three or whatever we’re up to.

Fourth, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! **The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger.** (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)

 **Fifth** , I’d like to know what everyone thought of there NOT being ANY rape in this story. Was it MORE or LESS POWERFUL with the new abuses I thought up for Sora in this one? Or is sex still my good medium and I should stick with that? (If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, you know?)

Finally, thank you for making it this far! All the way to the end! Woot! Yay! And it was a long story, too, a lot to get through!

And so, I bid you adieu.

Questions, comments, concerns?


End file.
